ROBERT  M.  T.  HUNTER 


MARTHA  T.  HUNTER 
COL  L  QUINTON  WASHINGTON 


A  MEMOIR  OF!  ROBERT  HL  L  HUNTER. 


ROBERT  M.  T.  HUNTER. 


A  MEMOIR 


ROBERT  M.  T.  HUNTER 


MARTHA  T.  HUNTER 

(His  Daughter) 


ADDRESS  ON  HIS  LIFE 

(Prepared  for  the  Hunter  Monument  Association) 
BY 

COL.  L.  QUINTON  WASHINGTON 


WASHINGTON 

THE  NEALE  PUBLISHING  COMPANY 

431  ELEVENTH  STREET 

MCMIII 


E4/5 


COPYRIGHT,    1903, 
BT 

THE  NBALE  PUBLISHING  COMPANY 


CONTENTS. 

PACK 

PREFACE       9 

INTRODUCTION  TO  MR.  Micoi/s  SKETCH  10 

BIRTH  AND  ANCESTRY 13 

CHILDHOOD  AND  YOUTH — 1809-1827      .  29 

STUDENT  LIFE .  .34 

POLITICS  AND  MARRIAGE 44 

PUBLIC  LIFE 67 

PRIVATE  LIFE  AND  LETTERS     ....  77 

LETTERS  TO  His  WIFE 95 

FROM  1853  TO  1865 107 

AFTER  THE  WAR 122 

CONCLUSION 136 

ADDENDA 138 

COLONEL  WASHINGTON'S  ADDRESS     .      .  139 


M49130 


PREFACE. 

IN  preparing-  this  biographical  sketch  of  the 
late  Robert  M.  T.  Hunter,  my  chief  en 
deavor  has  been  to  collect  data  and  afford 
facilities  for  gathering  information  for  a  future 
writer.  Acting  as  a  pioneer  in  rendering  ac 
cessible  such  facts  as  may  be  necessary  for 
the  compilation  of  a  complete  memoir,  I  leave 
to  a  more  competent  judgment  and  more  skil 
ful  performance  to  bring  shape  out  of  chaos, 
and,  while  using  effective  material,  to  reject 
what  is  worthless. 

Mr.  Hunter's  political  career  will  not  be 
followed  in  detail,  and  only  such  dates  and 
references  will  be  furnished  as  may  be  here 
after  needed  by  a  biographer  to  describe  the 
leading  events  and  mark  the  most  noteworthy 
acts  and  speeches  of  his  public  life. 

In  writing  this  memorial,  I  have  been  much 
assisted  by  the  valuable  and  admirable  bio 
graphical  sketch  written  for  the  Richmond 
Dispatch,  of  December  13,  1891,  by  Mr.  Hun 
ter's  friend  and  kinsman,  Mr.  A.  R.  Micou. 


INTRODUCTION  TO  MR.  MICOU'S  SKETCH. 

[A.  R.  Micou  in  Richmond  Dispatch,  Dec.  13,  1891.] 

The  movement  inaugurated  to  remove  the 
remains  of  the  late  Hon.  R.  M.  T.  Hunter  to 
some  point  near  Richmond,  and  to  erect  an 
appropriate  monument  to  his  memory,  will 
recall  to  many  who  have  passed  the  meridian 
of  life  the  exciting  political  contests  of  the 
three  decades  from  1830  to  1860,  when  Whig 
and  Democrat  struggled  for  supremacy  in  the 
State  and  Federal  governments ;  when  the  hust 
ings  was  the  arena  upon  which  the  intellect 
ual  gladiators  of  each  party  met  in  fierce  yet 
courteous  debate,  giving  thrust  for  thrust  and 
blow  for  blow. 

These  battles  were  waged  with  varying  for 
tunes,  sometimes  one  champion  and  some 
times  another  winning  the  favor  of  the  people, 
who  turned  out  almost  en  masse  to  attend 
these  forensic  displays,  the  adherents  of  each 
in  turn  cheering  themselves  hoarse  when  some 
telling  point  was  made  by  their  favorite  leader, 
and  at  another  were  hushed  into  silence  by  the 
magic  power  of  their  eloquence.  In  those 
days  every  Virginian  was  a  politician,  and 
every  measure,  State  and  Federal,  was  fully 


ROBERT  M.  T.    HUNTER  II 

discussed  upon  the  hustings,  which  was  the 
great  medium  through  which  the  people  were 
informed  upon  public  affairs.  But  few  of  the 
present  generation,  except  such  as  have  been 
students  of  history,  will  recall  any  memory  of 
the  questions  which  were  discussed,  or  the 
history  of  the  leaders  of  public  opinion,  and 
to  many  even  the  names  of  these  intellectual 
giants  are  unknown.  It  may  be  not  untimely, 
therefore,  nor  without  interest  to  your  read 
ers,  to  give  a  brief  sketch  of  the  life  and  ser 
vices  of  one  who  was  an  active  participant  in 
those  contests,  and  who  for  more  than  twenty- 
five  years  was  ranged  on  one  side  or  the  other 
of  every  important  public  question  which  di 
vided  the  parties ;  who,  after  two  terms  of  ser 
vice  in  the  State  Legislature,  served  eight 
years  in  the  House  of  Representatives,  and  by 
successive  re-elections  was  for  thirteen  years 
a  Senator  of  the  United  States,  and  subse 
quently  held  high  positions  under  the  short 
lived  government  of  the  Confederate  States, 
ijo  that  any  who  are  unfamiliar  with  his  career 
may  better  appreciate  the  motives  of  those  who 
now  seek  to  pay  this  tribute  to  his  memory. 

ANCESTRY. 

Robert  Mercer  Taliaferro  Hunter  was  born 
in  Essex  County,  Va.,  April  21,   1809.     His 


12  A    MEMOIR   OF 

father,  James  Hunter,  was  a  landed  proprietor 
of  considerable  means  and  high  standing  in 
the  community,  and  his  mother,  Maria  Gar- 
nett,  the  daughter  of  Muscoe  Garnett  and 
Grace  Fenton  Garnett,  nee  Mercer,  was  of 
the  distinguished  family  of  Mercers,  of  which 
the  late  Hon.  Charles  Fenton  Mercer,  the 
well-known  philanthropist  and  a  member  of 
Congress  from  this  State  from  1817  to  1840, 
was  one  of  the  most  prominent.  So  many  of 
his  family  being  in  public  life,  the  mind  of 
the  subject  of  this  sketch  was  naturally  turned 
to  the  study  of  current  politics  and  the  science 
of  government.  History  and  biography  were 
always  his  favorite  studies,  but  such  was  the 
activity  of  his  mind,  the  comprehensiveness  of 
his  intellect  and  the  retentiveness  of  his  mem 
ory,  that  there  were  few  fields  of  learning  that 
he  did  not  invade,  and  fewer  still  were  the 
subjects  that  he  touched  and  did  not  thor 
oughly  master. 


CHAPTER  I.      . 

BIRTH  AND  ANCESTRY         ,  .     •  _  ;  / 

Robert  Mercer  Taliaferro  Hunter,  the  sub 
ject  of  this  memoir,  was  born  on  the  twenty- 
first  of  April,  1809,  in  Essex  County,  Virginia, 
at  the  home  of  his  maternal  grandparents. 

This  -beautiful  residence,  fitly  called  Mt. 
Pleasant,  was  long  the  Garnett  Homestead, 
and  is  worthy  of  detailed  description. 

The  large  brick  mansion  stood  on  the  sum 
mit  of  the  lofty  range  of  hills  overlooking  the 
valley  of  the  Rappahannock,  and  was  built 
about  1734,  on  a  large  landed  estate  embrac 
ing  thousands  of  acres.  The  condition  of  the 
country  did  not  admit  of  much  artistic  devel 
opment  of  the  grounds,  but  Nature  had  rich 
ly  endowed  the  situation.  The  hills,  running 
parallel  with  the  river,  were  broken  and  di 
versified  by  deep  and  irregular  valleys  and  ra 
vines,  the  sides  of  which  were  covered  with 
the  varied  and  magnificent  forest  growth  of 
the  country.  Oak,  poplar,  beech  and  hickory 
were  densely  enveloped  with  the  almost  trop 
ical  luxuriance  of  the  wild  grape  and  indige 
nous  creepers.  Winding  its  broad  and  tor 
tuous  course  through  the  immense  and  fer 
tile  valley,  stretching  from  the  foot  of  the 

13 


14  A    MEMOIR   OF 


varige  to  its  banks,  the  Rappahannock  was 
visible  for  -many  miles,  and  across  its  glitter 
ing,  waters  lay  the  wide  plains  of  Westmore 
land  County,  extending  back  to  the  elevated 
and  forest-clad  spine  of  the  Northern  Neck  of 
Virginia.  Here  amid  these  fair  surroundings, 
Muscoe  Garnett,  the  maternal  grandfather  of 
Robert  Hunter,  lived  with  his  family.  He 
had  married  Grace  Fenton  Mercer,  the  daugh 
ter  of  John  Mercer,  of  Marlborough,  in  Staf 
ford  County,  Virginia,  and  seven  children  sur 
vived  him.  His  five  sons  were  James  Mercer, 
John  Mercer,  Muscoe  and  William  (twins), 
and  Robert  Selden  Garnett,  and  his  two 
daughters  were  Maria  and  Fenton. 
Each  of  the  sons  inherited  fine  estates : 
James  M.  Garnett,  the  eldest  son,  owned 
Elmwood,  one  of  the  handsomest  residences 
in  Virginia,  situated  on  a  range  of  hills  oppo 
site  to  the  Mt.  Pleasant  estate. 

John  Mercer  Garnett  received  the  old  home 
stead  as  his  portion,  and  Muscoe  owned  Pros 
pect  Hill,  a  beautiful  place  adjoining  Elm- 
wood,  while  William  and  the  youngest  son, 
Robert,  inherited  adjoining  estates  lower  down 
in  the  County  of  Essex,  one  called  Rose  Hill 
and  the  other  Champlain. 


ROBERT   M.   T.    HUNTER  15 

The  eldest  daughter,  Maria  Garnett,  mar 
ried  her  cousin,  James  Hunter,  the  father  of 
R.  M.  T.  Hunter,  and  her  sister,  Grace  Fen- 
ton,  married  James's  younger  brother,  Mus- 
coe  Garnett  Hunter,  her  father's  namesake,  so 
that  the  families  were  very  closely  allied. 

Robert  Hunter's  mother  was  remarkable  for 
her  intellectual  powers  and  strength  of  char 
acter,  and  early  developed  a  strong  love  for 
literature  and  desire  for  knowledge.  At  a  pe 
riod  when  women  generally  were  not  at  all 
addicted  to  literary  pursuits,  she  studied  math 
ematics  for  her  own  pleasure,  and  sold  a  high 
ly  prized  gold  watch  to  purchase  books.  Her 
mind  was  clear  and  logical,  and  tradition  as 
cribes  the  conversion  of  a  clever  infidel  to 
Christianity  to  the  force  of  her  arguments. 
This  may  not,  however,  be  vouched  for  as  an 
historical  fact. 

Two  of  her  brothers,  the  Hon.  James  Mercer 
Garnett  and  Hon.  Robert  Selden  Garnett,  ably 
represented  in  the  House  of  Representatives 
the  district  of  which  Essex  formed  a  part — the 
former  for  two  and  the  latter  for  five  terms. 
James  M.  Garnett  was  a  prominent  writer  on 
ethical  and  agricultural  subjects. 

The  paternal  ancestors  of  Robert  Hunter  for 
three  preceding  generations  were  merchants  of 


l6  A    MEMOIR    OF 

high  standing  in  the  social  and  business  world. 
The  family  were  of  Scotch  descent.  An  ances 
tor  named  James,  the  great-grandfather  of 
James  Hunter,  of  Hunter's  Hill,  who  was  Rob 
ert's  father,  was  born  in  the  town  of  Dunse, 
Scotland,  in  1661,  and  the  family  had  amassed  a 
considerable  property  in  the  course  of  long 
and  extensive  commercial  transactions  on  both 
sides  of  the  Atlantic.  Robert  Hunter's  father, 
however,  succeeded  to  such  exhausted  finances 
that  during  his  earlier  life  his  natural  energy 
and  strength  of  character  were  taxed  to  the 
utmost  to  etablish  any  degree  of  material  pros 
perity.  His  father,  William  Hunter,  was  one 
of  four  children,  of  whom  the  first,  a  girl 
named  Mary,  died  in  infancy.  James,  the  sec 
ond  child,  became  a  prosperous  merchant  in 
Fredericksburg,  Virginia,  and  afterwards  in 
Portsmouth  of  the  same  State.  He  married 
the  widow  of  his  cousin,  Mrs.  Mariana  Hun 
ter,  the  daughter  of  a  wealthy  Englishman 
named  Spence.  William,  the  grandfather  of 
Robert  M.  T.  Hunter,  came  next,  and,  last  of 
the  four,  a  daughter  called  Martha. 

William  Hunter  married  Sarah,  a  daughter 
of  William  and  Anne  Garnett,  who  lived  at 
The  Stone  Chimney,  in  Essex  County,  Vir 
ginia,  on  the  estate  afterwards  called  Cham- 


ROBERT   M.   T.    HUNTER  1 7 

plain.  Mrs.  Garnett,  nee  Rouzie  or  Rowzee, 
had  married  William,  a  half-brother  of  Muscoe 
Garnett  of  Mt.  Pleasant,  but  she  was  a  widow 
at  the  time  of  her  daughter  Sarah's  marriage. 
Her  wealthy  brother-in-law  seems  to  have 
aided  her  and  his  brother's  children,  but  at  his 
father's  death  in  1787  or  1788,  the  young 
James,  a  lad  of  fourteen,  was  sent  to  Ports 
mouth  to  begin  life  under  the  auspices  of  his 
Uncle  James,  after  whom  he  was  named.  His 
brother,  William  Garnett  Hunter,  after  caus 
ing  his  mother  much  anxiety,  disappeared 
some  years  later,  and  his  fate  was  never  accu 
rately  known.  In  a  letter  to  her  husband's 
brother  in  Portsmouth,  written  in  July,  1788, 
from  Essex  County,  Virginia,  the  widowed 
mother  mentions  her  two  eldest  boys  in  the 
following  extract: 

I  have  no  one  to  take  care  of  my  children,  and 
have  a  disagreeable  time  of  it,  and  I  believe  there  is 
no  happiness  for  me  in  this  world.  God  only  knows 
the  trials  I  have  to  go  through,  and  if  it  were  not  for 
my  Uncle  Garnett's1  kindness  to  me  and  my  chil 
dren,  I  never  should  be  in  spirits  to  keep  up.  You 
may  believe  me,  my  dear  brother,  he  is  the  only 
friend  I  have  near  me  that  is  worth  mentioning,  and 
he  is  a  father  to  your  brother's  children,  and  will  do 
everything  in  his  power  for  them.  *  *  *  As  to 

1Muscoe  Garnett. 


l8  A    MEMOIR   OF 

James's1  going  with  Mr.  Nickolls,  I  have  no  objec 
tion,  if  he  has  the  smallpox  before  he  goes.  I  know 
my  dear  brother  is  the  best  judge  of  what  is  for  his 
good.  I  shall  mention  it  to  my  Uncle  Garnett  when 
next  I  see  him.  I  believe  it  will  be  agreeable  to  him 
if  Mr.  Nickolls  will  bear  James's  expenses,  as  I  fear 
my  uncle  will  not  have  it  in  his  power  to  advance  the 
money  for  him,  as  there  are  so  many  demands 
against  the  estate.  I  beg  Mr.  Nickolls  will  let  James 
come  up  at  Christmas  to  see  me  before  he  goes.  I 
hope  Mr.  Nickolls  will  be  a  good  friend  to  Jimmy;  it 
is  all  the  satisfaction  I  have  to  hear  he  is  such  a  good 
boy. 

Billy  is  now  at  home  with  me,  and  he  goes  to 
school  every  day  to  learn  to  cypher.  My  dear 
brother,  if  you  can  get  a  place  for  him  in  Norfolk  or 
Portsmouth,  I  hope  you  will.  He  says  he  will  be  as 
attentive  to  his  business  as  possible,  and  it  never  will 
do  for  him  to  stay  here,  as  it  is  impossible  for  him  to 
improve  himself  in  anything  whatever,  from  the  com 
pany  he  must  keep,  if  here  he  is  obliged  to  stay; 
indeed,  I  had  rather  he  was  in  his  grave  than  to 
keep  company  with  such  idle,  worthless  young  men 
that  are  about  this  place.  I  write  my  mind  freely 
to  you,  my  dear  brother,  and  I  write  many  things 
that  I  don't  wish  to  be  mentioned.  I  shall  be  happy 
to  see  Mr.  Spence2  and  his  lady  whenever  they  visit 
me. 


R.  M.  T.  Hunter's  father. 
2Father  of  Mrs.  James  Hunter. 


ROBERT   M.  T.    HUNTER  Ip 

The  boys  are  gone  to  school.  Patsy  sends  her 
duty  to  her  uncle  and  aunt,  and  love  to  her  cousins. 
God  bless  you  all,  my  dear  brother,  and  believe  me 

to  be'  Your  aff'ate  sister, 

SALLY  HUNTER. 

I  wrote  James  last  week,  expecting  Captain  Liv 
ingstone  would  go  down,  but  he  was  disappointed. 

This  pathetic  letter  veils  the  maternal  anx 
iety  which  the  writer  strives  to  repress  in  con 
senting  to  her  boy's  voyage  to  the  West  In 
dies,  whither,  soon  after  his  arrival  in  Nor 
folk,  he  was  sent  as  supercargo.  James  Hun 
ter  was  born  March  14,  1774,  and  at  the  time 
of  his  mother's  letter  was  only  fourteen  years 
old.  Besides  his  elder  brother  William,  al 
ready  mentioned,  there  were  Taliaferro,  born 
July  26th,  1776;  Martha  Taliaferro,  born  Feb 
ruary  22,  1778;  Muscoe  Garnett,  born  April  7, 
1779,  and  Henry  Garnett,  born  February  25, 
1783.  This  last  child  must  have  died  early, 
as  there  is  no  further  mention  of  him. 

James  Hunter  possessed  strength  of  mind 
and  will,  with  indomitable  energy  of  character, 
which  enabled  him  through  life  to  withstand 
danger  and  difficulty.  He  early  developed 
such  promise  of  business  ability  that  his  uncle 
James  adopted  him  as  his  special  protege,  and 
took  him  to  Portsmouth  to  introduce  him  to 


2O  A   MEMOIR   OF 

the  firm  of  which  he  was  a  member.  The  tra 
dition  is  that  while  on  this,  his  first  voyage,  a 
storm  arose  threatening  the  vessel's  destruc 
tion  on  the  Chesapeake  Bay.  His  uncle,  no 
ticing  symptoms  of  alarm  in  the  boy,  ad 
dressed  him  in  forcible  language:  "Why,  you 

d d  little  rascal,  what  is  the  matter?    Are 

you  afraid  to  die?" 

The  child  replied  that  he  was  not,  and  de 
termined  to  overcome  all  dread  of  danger  by 
sea,  on  which  resolve  he  had  afterward  abund 
ant  cause  to  congratulate  himself.  He  was 
more  than  once  sent  on  sea  voyages  by  his 
employers,  who  trusted  and  highly  esteemed 
him,  teaching  him  early  self-reliance,  by  the 
weight  of  responsibility.  He  had  a  boyish  ap 
preciation  of  fun,  and  used  to  enjoy  telling  a 
joke  perpetrated  on  some  Englishmen,  who 
had  come  to  Portsmouth  to  explore  the  sur 
rounding  lands,  with  a  view  to  settlement. 
James  was  sent  by  his  employers  to  drive  with 
these  gentlemen  through  the  adjacent  country 
and  show  its  advantages.  After  investigating 
the  condition  of  crops  and  fruits,  one  of  the 
explorers  asked  about  a  persimmon  tree,  on 
which  the  fruit  was  green.  In  answer  to  his 
inquiry  whether  this  fruit  was  good  to  eat,  the 
young  guide  assured  him  of  its  excellence,  and 


ROBERT  M.  T.    HUNTER  21 

standing  at  a  safe  distance,  watched  his  vic 
tim  as  he  pulled  and  tasted  the  green  persim 
mon.  In  another  moment  he  was  flying  before 
an  enraged  pursuer,  whose  face  was  puckered 
and  drawn  by  the  crude  fruit.  Although  so 
young,  James  understood  how  to  protect  him 
self  from  insult  or  oppression,  as  was  proved 
on  his  first  sea  voyage. 

There  was  a  barbarous  ordeal  to  which  the 
young  mariner  was  in  those  days  exposed  on 
first  crossing  the  Line,"  very  similar  to  the 
"  hazing  "  since  practiced  in  colleges  on  fresh 
men.  To  prevent  this  initiation,  it  was  cus 
tomary  to  pay  a  fee  to  the  captain  of  the  ves 
sel,  with  which  he  might  bribe  his  men  to 
abstain  from  aggression,  and  young  James  ac 
cordingly  offered  this  sum  to  insure  his  protec 
tion  from  the  sailors.  The  captain  refused  the 
money,  saying  that  he  could  not  prevent  the 
initiation  by  any  means  in  his  power;  "But," 
said  he,  "  I  have  two  pistols  here,  as  good 
firearms  as  ever  smoked,  and  if  you  defend 
yourself  by  shooting  two  of  the  seamen,  you 
may  escape  the  ordeal.  I  think  killing  them 
would  be  justifiable  under  the  circumstances." 

Young  Hunter  took  the  pistols,  and  his 
threats  were  so  effective  that  he  escaped  the 
rigors  of  initiation  without  drawing  any  blood. 


22  A    MEMOIR   OF 

We  have  no  exact  record  of  the  time  spent 
with  the  Portsmouth  firm,  during  which  he 
gained  honor  and  respect,  but  eight  years  after 
the  above-mentioned  incidents  he  was  living 
at  Laytons,  in  his  native  County  of  Essex,  and 
on  the  2ist  of  September,  1796,  he  married  his 
cousin,  Maria  Garnett,  the  daughter  of  his 
great-uncle,  Muscoe  Garnett  of  Mt.  Pleasant. 
This  gentleman,  after  the  death  of  his  niece, 
Mrs.  Sally  Hunter,  seems  to  have  exercised 
some  supervision  over  her  orphan  children, 
taking  her  daughter  Martha,  or  "  Patsy,"  as  she 
was  called,  to  live  with  him,  but  having  much 
on  his  hands,  he  deputed  the  management  of 
their  property  to  an  agent,  who  had  little  to 
show  for  his  trust  when  called  to  render  an 
account. 

James  Hunter  opened  a  store  at  Laytons, 
with  such  wreck  of  property  as  he  could  re 
cover,  and  in  spite  of  his  extreme  youth  acted 
almost  a  father's  part  to  his  two  younger 
brothers.  His  only  sister,  to  whom  he  was 
deeply  attached,  always  lived  with  him  after  he 
had  a  home  of  his  own,  and  was  beloved  and 
honored  by  his  family.  A  devoted  friendship 
existed  between  this  lady  and  Maria  Garnett, 
with  whom  she  had  lived  as  a  sister  at  Mt. 


ROBERT   M.   T.    HUNTER  23 

Pleasant,  and  whose  fullest  confidence  she  al 
ways  possessed.  Muscoe  Garnett  was  said  to 
have  been  opposed  to  his  daughter's  marrying 
her  young  kinsman,  who  at  twenty-two  years 
of  age  had  very  scanty  means  of  support,  and 
the  following  letter  written  to  her  lover  by 
Maria  Garnett  shows  that  the  course  of  their 
true  love  did  not  run  with  absolute  smooth 
ness.  Beneath  the  somewhat  stilted  and  ro 
mantic  style  of  her  age  and  generation  we  read 
between  the  lines  and  detect  the  genuine 
warmth  of  a  first  love.  The  epistle  is  dated 
July  28,  1795,  and  has  no  address,  but  may 
have  been  enclosed  with  the  letter  of  some 
other  person.  It  enters  at  once  on  the  sub 
ject  of  some  misunderstanding: 

How  could  you  so  much  misunderstand  advice, 
dictated  by  the  most  anxious  solicitude  for  your  wel 
fare,  as  to  suppose  it  was  meant  merely  as  an  evasion 
of  a  promise  which  I  have  no  longer  any  inclination 
to  perform.  Hitherto  I  have  forborne  to  make  pro 
fessions,  because  I  thought  from  my  former  conduct 
you  must  be  so  sensible  of  the  extravagance  of  my 
attachment  that  I  was  in  danger  of  owing  those  sen 
timents  to  compulsion,  which  I  wish  to  be  the  result 
of  esteem.  Everything  which  has  appeared  capri 
cious  in  my  behaviour  has  originated  in  the  singular 
character  of  my  father;  candidly  speaking,  I  am  cer 
tain  that  he  is  as  willing  to  my  marrying  you  as  any 


24  A    MEMOIR   OF 

man  in  the  world,  but  he  has  strong  objections  to 
matrimony,  and,  from  a  strange  peculiarity,  will 
never  give  a  positive  answer  to  anything.  Well  as  1 
am  acquainted  with  this,  did  not  common  justice  de 
mand  the  answer  returned  to  you?  The  part  I  have 
had  to  act  has  been  very  difficult — too  difficult  for  my 
judgment.  On  every  side  I  have  been  entangled  by 
perplexities,  from  which  I  knew  not  how  to  extricate 
myself.  In  this  situation,  I  resolved  to  conceal  every 
sensation  under  the  mask  of  gaiety,  and  since  this, 
resolution, — merry,  grave  or  sad, — have  worn  the 
same  smiling  aspect.  In  pursuance  of  these  rules, 
I  have  sometimes  so  far  overacted  my  part,  that  the 
affectation  has  been  detected.  I  have  disregarded 
my  own  difficulties,  but  have  felt  more  severely  for 
the  trouble  and  vexation  the  matter  has  cost  you 
than  for  any  circumstance  that  has  occurred  during 
the  whole  transaction.  Do  not  suppose  that  I  have 
been  so  explicit  in  declaring  my  affection  with  a  view 
of  weakening  the  force  of  the  request  I  made  by  your 
sister  this  morning. 

On  the  contrary,  I  earnestly  and  sincerely  wish 
you  to  comply  with  it  at  all  events.  I  merely  mean 
the  declaration  for  your  satisfaction,  if  you  have  not 
yourself  cooled,  and  if  you  have,  for  my  own  justifi 
cation.  I  must  now  conclude  by  assuring  you  that 
your  happiness  has  long  been,  and  will  ever  remain, 
the  dearest  wish  of  my  heart,  and  however  the  af 
fair  may  end,  if  that  favorite  wish  is  granted  I 
shall  not  be  unhappy. 

M.  GARNETT. 

So  wrote  a  girl  of  eighteen,  a  hundred  years 
ago,  and  the  affair  ended  according  to  the 


ROBERT   M.   T.    HUNTER  25 

wishes  of  the  young  couple,  as  this  marriage 
took  place  little  more  than  a  year  later.  For 
the  first  five  years  afterwards,  they  lived  at 
Laytons',  where  James  Hunter  engaged  in  mer 
cantile  pursuits  until  he  removed  to  Hunter's 
Mill,  where  he  devoted  himself  to  farming  and 
to  the  care  of  the  mill  which  he  purchased. 
He  was  elected  to  the  State  Legislature,  and 
served  two  terms,  being  unanimously  chosen 
the  second  time  without  soliciting  the  vote  of 
the  people.  He  was  very  fond  of  reading,  and 
his  marked  literary  tastes  impressed  them 
selves  on  his  children.  His  son  Robert  said 
that  his  father  slept  badly,  and  would  often  call 
him  up  at  night  between  one  and  two  o'clock 
to  read  aloud  some  historical  or  biographical 
work.  This  untimely  pursuit  of  literature 
would  have  acted  on  some  childish  minds  as 
a  deterrent  rather  than  a  stimulus,  but  the  love 
of  reading,  so  early  inculcated,  was  a  lifelong 
resource  to  the  subject  of  this  sketch.  James 
Hunter  said  that  his  high  value  for  education 
was  enhanced  by  his  own  difficulties  in  attain 
ing  it.  He  owed  his  mental  culture  entirely 
to  his  own  efforts,  for  he  was  forced  into  act 
ive  life  too  early  to  have  had  any  regular  edu 
cation.  He  took  a  prominent  position  in  his 
native  county,  which  was  due  to  his  force  of 


26  A    MEMOIR   OF 

character,  his  clear  judgment  and  superior 
practical  ability. 

His  estate  prospered  and  he  was  regarded 
as  a  man  of  such  integrity  and  business  tal 
ent  that  many  of  his  neighbors  sought  his  ad 
vice  and  counsel.  His  views  of  honor  were 
rigidly  scrupulous,  and  he  believed  in  adhering 
to  a  high  standard  of  truth  in  word  and  deed. 
His  affections  were  as  warm  as  his  temper  was 
quick,  and  he  often  regretted  hasty  words  and 
actions,  prompted  by  passionate  impulses. 
Eight  children  were  born  to  him  from  his  first 
marriage,  five  sons  and  three  daughters — 
Maria,  Muscoe  Garnett,  Martha  Fenton, 
James,  Jane  Swann,  William,  Robert  Mercer 
Taliaferro  and  another,  William  Garnett, 
whose  birth  cost  the  life  of  his  mother  on  the 
1/j.th  of  August,  1811.  The  first  William,  a  boy 
of  four  or  five,  died  at  the  same  time,  and  the 
infant  was  called  by  his  brother's  name. 

In  1819,  James  Hunter  again  married,  and 
his  second  wife,  Apphia  Bushrod  Rouzie,  was 
also  his  cousin,  but  more  distantly  related  than 
Maria  Garnett.  This  lady  died  in  February, 
1822,  two  weeks  after  the  birth  of  her  first 
child,  Sarah  Harriet  Apphia,  whom  she  left  to 
the  joint  guardianship  of  her  husband's  sister 
and  his  daughter  Jane,  whose  remarkable 


ROBERT  M.   T.    HUNTER  27 

character  fitted  her  for  the  charge.  This  latest 
born  child,  Sally  Hunter,  lived  to  be  a  comfort 
and  blessing  to  her  whole  family  and  connec 
tion.  Of  the  nine  children,  six  survived  their 
father,  but  he  lived  to  mourn  the  death  of  his 
eldest  boy,  Muscoe  Garnett  Hunter,  the  pride 
and  hope  of  the  family,  who  died  at  eighteen 
while  a  student  at  William  and  Mary  College, 
where  his  popular  and  genial  disposition  had 
endeared  him  both  to  the  professors  and  his 
fellow  students.  They  seemed  to  feel  a  gen 
erous  pride  in  his  early  promise.  The  second 
son,  James,  also  died  early  from  typhoid  fever, 
and  the  death  of  the  first  William  has  already 
been  mentioned.  James  Hunter's  first-born 
child,  his  daughter  Maria,  well  endowed  with 
personal  and  mental  gifts,  married  her  cousin, 
James  Mercer  Garnett,  Junior,  the  eldest  son 
of  her  Uncle  James,  to  whom  we  have  before 
referred.  This  young  man,  who  died  early, 
was  exceptionally  gifted,  and  some  of  his  fel 
low  students  compared  him  to  the  "  Admirable 
Crichton,"  from  his  varied  and  brilliant  facul 
ties.  The  only  child  of  this  marriage  was 
Muscoe  Russell  Hunter  Garnett,  the  beloved 
nephew  of  R.  M.  T.  Hunter,  who  regarded 
him  almost  as  a  favorite  son,  while  his  rare 
abilities  and  ripe  scholarship  gained  general 


28  A    MEMOIR   OF 

recognition  in  his  wide  circle  of  acquaintances. 
Mr.  Hunter  often  mentioned  with  pride  the 
high  encomium  of  a  distinguished  English 
man,  who,  after  meeting  Muscoe  Garnett,  told 
his  uncle  that  he  had  not  seen  his  equal  in 
America  in  literary  accomplishments  and  va 
ried  attainments,  and  that  he  might  be  favor 
ably  compared  with  the  best  qualified  gradu 
ates  of  Oxford  and  Cambridge.  Mr.  Hunter's 
other  sisters  were  Martha  Fenton  and  Jane  S. 
Hunter,  both  older  than  himself,  and  the  half- 
sister,  Sally,  who  was  little  more  than  an  in 
fant  when  her  father  died  in  1826. 

At  this  time,  before  he  was  seventeen,  Rob 
ert  Hunter  was  left  at  the  head  of  a  large  fam 
ily,  each  with  strong  individual  traits,  although 
all  united  in  affection  for  him,  and  in  respect 
for  his  judgment  and  abilities. 

But  before  proceeding  with  the  narrative  of 
his  life  at  this  period,  we  must  give  some  ac 
count  of  Robert  Hunter's  childhood  and  its 
surroundings. 


CHAPTER  II. 

CHILDHOOD   AND    YOUTH 1809-1827. 

Even  in  childhood  Robert  Hunter  was  un 
usually  grave  and  thoughtful,  and  his  colored 
nurse  said  that  he  was  not  like  other  children, 
but  always  fond  of  books,  and  "  lonesome  in 
his  ways."  His  father's  love  of  reading,  as  we 
have  said,  fostered  the  boy's  natural  literary 
tastes,  and  led  him  to  grapple  with  works  of 
history  and  biography  far  beyond  his  years. 
When  very  young  he  was  a  martyr  to  ear-ache, 
by  which  his  hearing  was  affected,  and  when 
suffering  from  pain,  but  anxious  to  restrain 
any  expression  of  it,  he  resorted  to  the  follow 
ing  device :  He  would  turn  his  back  on  the 
occupants  of  the  room,  standing  with  his  face 
toward  the  wall,  and  ask  his  aunt  to  sing  a 
favorite  hymn  for  him,  "  When  Sorrows  En 
compass  Me  Round." 

Up  to  his  eleventh  year  he  was  educated  at 
home  by  his  sisters,  but  at  that  time  his  father, 
and  his  uncle,  William  Garnett,  together  em 
ployed  a  teacher,  who  was  at  liberty  to  take 
other  scholars  besides  those  of  his  two  patrons. 
This  gentleman  lived  a  part  of  the  year  with 
one  of  his  employers  and  a  part  with  the 

29 


30  A    MEMOIR   OF 

other,  but  the  schoolhouse  was  built  at  Rose 
Hill,  a  distance  of  about  two  miles  and  a  half 
from  Hunter's  Hill.  To  this  place  little  Robert 
walked  every  day,  attended  by  a  colored  boy 
called  Austin. 

His  father  gave  him  the  choice  of  a  riding- 
horse  or  the  escort  of  this  boy,  and  Robert 
chose  the  latter.  Every  morning  the  two  set 
forth  together,  and  Austin,  after  accompany 
ing  his  charge  to  school,  would  go  home  and 
return  for  him  in  the  afternoon.  Mr.  Van 
Vraneken,  the  first  teacher  engaged,  was  of 
German  extraction,  well  educated,  and  pos 
sessed  the  gift  of  imparting  knowledge,  but 
was  succeeded  by  a  teacher  so  unpopular  that 
the  boys  formed  more  than  one  conspiracy  to 
burn  down  the  schoolhouse. 

These  designs  were  fortunately  not  exe 
cuted.  Robert  disliked  the  school  very  much, 
and  owed  his  early  education  chiefly  to  his  own 
efforts,  assisted  by  his  father  and  sisters. 
James  Hunter,  while  fond  of  his  children,  was 
a  disciplinarian,  and  on  one  occasion,  when 
his  little  son  had  failed  to  arrange  satisfactorily 
a  business  matter  entrusted  to  him,  he  was 
sent  back  by  his  father  on  a  lonely  night  ride 
of  several  miles  to  repair  his  mistake.  No 
two  natures  could  have  been  more  dissimilar 


ROBERT  M.   T.    HUNTER  3! 

than  those  of  this  father  and  son,  save  for  the 
ambition  and  literary  tastes  common  to  both. 

The  father  was  a  martinet  in  many  things,  in 
spite  of  his  passionate  and  impulsive  tempera 
ment.  He  was  a  close  business  man,  paying 
the  utmost  attention  to  the  minutiae  of  his  af 
fairs,  and  carefully  avoiding  pecuniary  liabili 
ties.  His  papers  attest  his  good  management, 
for  his  receipts  were  kept  on  file,  and  he  could 
never  have  been  at  a  loss  to  find  any  import 
ant  document  or  note  of  transaction.  His 
friends  recognized  his  judicial  and  administra 
tive  abilities,  and  made  him  a  referee  in  finan 
cial  difficulties,  and  years  after  his  death  a 
practical  merchant  of  a  later  generation  said 
that  he  believed  from  concurrent  testimony 
that  no  such  business  man  had  ever  lived  in 
Essex. 

His  son  Robert  inherited  a  financial  talent 
as  applied  to  national  affairs  or  private  settle 
ments  on  a  large  scale,  'but  had  no  love  of 
technical  detail.  He  hated  accounts  and  had 
no  innate  fear  of  debt,  for  his  sanguine  tem 
perament  led  him  to  hope  for  a  way  out  of 
pecuniary  difficulties,  and  he  did  not  share 
the  nervous  and  apprehensive  tendencies  of  his 
father's  emotional  nature.  His  eldest  sister, 
who  herself  possessed  an  excitable  nature,  said 


32  A    MEMOIR   OF 

that  Robert  inherited  his  mother's  amiability 
and  unfailing  patience.  In  early  youth  the  fu 
ture  statesman  seems  to  have  sought  compan 
ionship  with  those  older  and  presumably  wiser 
than  himself,  but  more  especially  did  he  take 
counsel  with  the  established  authorities  in  the 
world  of  letters.  Always  studious  and  ambi 
tious,  he  met  with  few  congenial  companions 
before  his  entrance  into  college  life,  but  seems 
to  have  been  warmly  attached  to  his  uncle, 
James  M.  Garnett,  and  the  family  at  Elmwood. 
He  felt  a  special  affection  for  his  cousin  Nancy, 
the  eldest  daughter,  who  was  much  older  than 
himself,  but  possessed  rare  talents  and  accom 
plishments,  and  was  always  devoted  to  her 
young  cousin,  whose  intellect  and  attainments 
were  to  her  a  source  of  pride  and  pleasure  and 
made  them  congenial  companions.  Elmwood 
was  a  second  home  to  the  Hunter  family,  who 
regarded  this  household  with  peculiar  affection, 
and  the  young  people  treated  each  other  with 
the  love  and  affection  of  brothers  and  sisters. 
After  their  father's  death,  the  family  at  Hun 
ter's  Hill  was  for  a  time  broken  up,  for  Rob 
ert's  entrance  at  college  had  already  been  de 
termined.  The  family  circle  would  then  con 
sist  of  three  sisters  and  their  young  brother, 
William,  and  most  prominent  and  beloved  of 


ROBERT   M.   T.    HUNTER  33 

all,  their  aunt  and  second  mother,  Martha  Tal- 
iaferro  Hunter.  This  lady,  generally  called 
by  her  nieces  and  nephews  Aunt  Patsy,  had 
the  gift  of  winning  hearts  by  sympathy  and  af 
fection;  and  her  ready  wit  and  bright  tempera 
ment  rendered  her  unusually  agreeable.  Dur 
ing  her  life  she  was  the  central  figure  in  a  fam 
ily  of  remarkable  gifts  and  traits  of  character. 
Friends  and  dependents  loved  and  respected 
her,  and  the  spell  of  her  influence  harmonized 
the  most  discordant  elements.  Her  nieces  and 
nephews  not  only  loved  her  with  rare  devo 
tion,  but  deferred  to  her  wishes  and  opinions, 
and  Robert  Hunter,  who  was  her  chief  favor 
ite,  never  failed  to  respond  to  her  affection  and 
to  consult  her  wishes.  It  was  arranged  that 
during  his  absence  at  college  the  family  should 
board  at  Elmwood,  where  the  eldest  sister, 
Mrs.  Maria  Garnett,  married  to  her  cousin,  al 
ready  resided. 


CHAPTER  III. 

STUDENT  LIFE. 

The  college  to  which  he  should  be  sent  was 
a  subject  of  anxious  discussion  with  Robert 
Hunter's  father  and  friends.  Princeton,  Will 
iam  and  Mary,  and  the  University  of  Virginia, 
recently  established,  were  all  under  considera 
tion,  and  the  decision,  finally  given  in  honor 
of  the  University,  was  a  subject  of  much  self- 
congratulation  to  Mr.  Hunter  in  after  life.  He 
frequently  expressed  and  proved  his  devotion 
to  his  alnm  mater.  His  father  died  a  few 
months  before  the  time  appointed  for  his  de 
parture,  but  he  entered  the  University  at  its 
first  session,  and  was  one  of  its  first  graduates, 
having  for  his  associates  Professor  Gessner 
Harrison  and  Henry  Tutwiler,  his  lifelong 
friends;  and  among  his  friends  were  others  but 
little  less  distinguished. 

Mr.  Hunter  was  very  tenacious  of  friendship 
once  formed,  liberal  in  praise,  and  averse  to 
disparagement  or  censure  of  those  he  really 
liked  and  esteemed.  Professor  George  Long, 
formerly  of  Trinity  College,  Cambridge,  but 
at  the  time  of  young  Hunter's  matriculation 
professor  of  ancient  languages  at  the  Univer 
sity  of  Virginia,  regarded  the  ambitious  young 

34 


ROBERT   M.   T.    HUNTER  35 

student  with  special  favor,  and  a  copy  of  Po- 
lybius,  presented  to  him  by  Mr.  Long,  and  in 
scribed  with  his  name,  is  still  in  Mr.  Hunter's 
library. 

After  two  or  three  years  at  college  he  en 
tered  the  law  school  of  the  distinguished  law 
yer,  Judge  Henry  St.  George  Tucker,  father 
of  the  late  Hon.  John  Randolph  Tucker,  at 
Winchester,  Virginia,  and  while  a  student  won 
his  lasting  regard.  Here,  too,  he  first  saw  the 
lovely  niece  of  the  great  jurist,  then  a  child  of 
ten  or  twelve  years  old,  who  was  destined  to 
be  his  wife. 

The  young  law  student  wrote  to  his  sister 
Maria,  soon  after  reaching  Winchester,  as  fol 
lows: 

WINCHESTER,  Nov.  3d. 
My  Dear  Sister:  [Year  not  given.] 

I  am  very  much  surprised  to  learn  from  your  letter 
that  you  have  not  heard  from  me  since  I  left  home. 
I  wrote  shortly  after  my  arrival,  and  you  perhaps 
perceived  from  that  letter,  if  you  have  yet  received  it, 
that  I  was  anxious  to  return,  but  I  assure  you  I  did 
not  express  half  the  anxiety  I  felt  on  that  occasion. 
I  verily  believe  that  I  should  have  posted  off  in  a 
week  after  my  arrival  if  I  had  not  been  ashamed  to 
betray  my  fickleness.  Indeed,  I  find  myself  a  very 
child  in  some  matters,  but  I  am  at  least  determined 
not  to  display  it.  You  will  readily  believe  that  I  am 
much  better  reconciled  to  my  situation  when  I  tell 


36  A    MEMOIR   OF 

you  that  William  Taylor,  mon  cher  ami,  has  arrived, 
and  is  now  playing  his  delightful  flute  by  my  side 
whilst  I  am  penning  this  epistle.  I  have  been  so 
much  interrupted  for  several  days  past  that  I  am 
obliged  to  seize  this,  which  is  the  best  opportunity 
I  have  had  for  writing,  although,  as  Burns  says,  upon 
some  occasion,  I  am  hardly  up  to  writing  an  order  to 
a  cobbler.  I  have  had  some  other  inducements  to 
remain  besides  the  one  I  have  mentioned.  I  have 
been  circulating  some  among  the  ladies  since  I  ar 
rived  here,  and  have  found  some  of  them  certainly 
more  than  passable  in  appearance.  You  have  no  idea 
how  these  mountain  girls  can  sing. 

I  have  neither  seen  nor  heard  anything  of  your 
friend  Miss  R.  since  my  coming  here,  except  that  she 

was  certainly  to  be  married  to  the  Reverend , 

who  is  said  to  be  a  young  man  of  fine  talents.  I  left 
your  token  and  letter  at  Millwood,  which  is  within 
half  a  mile  of  Dr.  B.'s,  where  she  lives,  and  an 
old  gentleman  who  took  charge  of  them  at  the  office 
promised  they  should  be  safely  delivered.  The  book 
was  charged  to  Uncle  James,  as  you  requested,  but  I 
did  not  pay  the  money  to  Aunt  B.  as  you  wished,  not 
because  I  forgot  it,  but  because,  like  old  Isaac  the 
Jew,  I  felt  that  it  rang  too  clear  and  true  to  be  parted 
with.  I  believe,  though,  I  should  pay  it  now  if  I 
were  to  fall  in  with  her,  for  although  I  thought  of 
small  debts  all  day  and  dreamt  of  debts  and  credits 
all  night,  as  I  came  along,  yet  I  have  found  not  my 
courage,  but  my  money  oozing  out  so  fast  at  the 
palms  of  my  hands  that  I  have  been  somewhat  revo 
lutionized.  However,  set  it  down  in  your  big  book 
until  I  come  home  at  Christmas.  "But  how  comes  on 


ROBERT   M.   T.    HUNTER  37 

the  law?"  you  will  say.  Much  better,  I  daresay,  than 
you  suppose.  I  tried  in  in  broken  doses  for  some 
days,  and  it  sat  very  well,  I  asure  you,  but  it  is  still 
a  little  sedative  in  its  influences.  I  believe  you  were 
all  a  little  afraid  when  I  left  home  that  I  would  study 
so  much  here  as  to  injure  my  health.  I  wonder  what 
you  would  say  now  if  you  were  to  see  me  with  my 
morning  and  evening  levees,  or  could  behold  my 
valiant  attacks  upon  our  landlord's  venison.  You 
would  readily  excuse  the  last,  if  you  saw  the  lordly 
haunches  which  I  enjoy,  for  I  am  convinced  that 
Robin  Hood,  had  he  lived  to  this  day,  would  never 
have  chosen  his  lair  in  merry  Sherwood  could  he 
have  wet  his  gray  goose  quill  in  our  mountain  deer. 
If  we  estimate  greatness  by  the  amount  of  pleasure 
one  confers  on  those  around  him,  I  am  sure  Taylor 
(my  landlord)  must  stand  next  to  Washington  and 
Gallatin,  of  all  who  have  ever  graced  America. 

You  seemed  to  be  terribly  in  the  dumps  when  you 
wrote.  What  in  the  world  can  be  the  matter?  Are 
you  still  troubled  with  those  thick-coming  fancies, 
which  are  worse  than  real  evils?  Or  is  it  that  you 
think  nothing  of  a  more  lively  strain  would  suit  my 
morbid  taste?  Have  all  the  family  feuds  been  ap 
peased,  so  that  you  can  no  longer  find  amusement 
or  occupation  for  your  energies,  or  are  you  like 
Alexander,  repining  over  your  victories  and  sighing 
for  another  family  to  conquer?  If  any  of  these  sur 
mises  be  true,  you  may  suppose  me  your  opponent, 
and  tell  Sister  Martha,  when  times  are  dull,  why  you 
have  abundant  cause  to  be  hurt  with  me — "  hurt,"  I 
believe,  is  the  term,  for  not  paying  the  aforesaid 
sum  as  directed,  and  how  you  mean  to  show  me  (?) 


38  A    MEMOIR   OF 

that  you  are  not  afraid  to  speak  your  mind  on  the 
occasion.  And  now  having  laid  you  under  obliga 
tions  by  affording  you  so  charming  a  theme  for  con 
versation,  I  shall  draw  to  a  conclusion,  and  beg  to 
be  affectionately  remembered  to  them  all. 
Yours  affectionately, 

ROBT.  M.  T.  HUNTER. 

P.  S. — You  must  not  be  surprised  if  you  should  not 
hear  from  me  again  before  Christmas,  for  if  I  can  get 
half  a  chance  I  shall  be  too  busy  with  visiting  to 
think  of  writing  anything  but  billet-doux,  or  sonnets 
"  a  la  Moore." 

This  gay,  boyish  effusion,  addressed  to  his 
widowed  sister,  Mrs.  Maria  Garnett,  is  very 
different  from  the  graver  letters  of  after  years, 
and  is  almost  the  only  one  extant  of  those 
written  in  his  early  youth.  There  is  one  more 
written  from  college,  probably  a  year  or  more 
previous  to  the  letter  quoted  above. 

His  sister  Jane  seems  to  have  censured  his 
attendance  at  a  horse  race  while  he  was  at 
the  University,  and  the  young  student  of  eigh 
teen  answers  in  an  indignant  protest,  qualify 
ing  his  assertion  of  independence,  so  far  as  his 
aunt  was  concerned,  for  to  her  he  never  failed 
in  love  and  respect.  Her  letters  to  him  were 
models  of  affection  and  discretion,  and  while 
holding  up  to  him  a  high  standard  and  incul- 


ROBERT   M.   T.    HUNTER  39 

eating  noble  aims,  her   style    and    expression 
were  neither  didactic  nor  dogmatic. 
Letter  to  his  sister  Jane : 

Oct.  2pth,  1827. 
My  Dear  Sister: 

I  was  a  little  astonished,  as  you  may  suppose,  at 
the  arrival  of  your  letter  and  the  gravity  with  which 
you  commence  the  impeachment  of  my  late  conduct 
in  the  high  court  of  morality.  I  could  but  wonder 
when  I  began  your  letter  what  I  had  done  to  call 
forth  your  severe  animadversion,  and  was  relieved  to 
find  the  matter  no  more  than  the  simple-looking  on 
at  a  trial  of  speed  between  two  horses  of  some  celeb 
rity.  Now  on  this  point  I  differ  with  you  toto  ccslo. 

I  abhor,  I  believe,  every  species  of  gambling  as 
much  as  you  do,  and  would  be  the  last  to  engage  in 
it  in  any  shape,  but  I  cannot  agree  that  simply  view 
ing  what  others  bet  on,  is  the  same  as  betting  myself. 
I  acknowledge  the  force  of  example,  and  the  duty 
which  this  imposes  on  all  who  love  morality  to 
abstain  from  lending  its  aid  to  immoral  practices, 
but  this  is  not  a  case  in  point.  The  purses  had  been 
made  up  and  would  have  been  run  for,  if  none  but 
the  jockeys  themselves  had  been  present,  so  that  my 
absence,  or  that  indeed  of  all  the  spectators,  would 
not  have  prevented  the  race,  and  I  cannot  consider 
myself  as  having  encouraged  racing  by  my  presence. 

With  regard  to  the  by-bets  and  dissipation  that 
sometimes  attend  these  places,  I  can  only  say  that  so 
far  as  example  goes,  mine  went  to  discourage  them 
for  I  did  not  engage  in  anything  of  the  sort.  Indeed, 
I  daresay  I  was  only  discharging  a  duty  which 


4O  A  MEMOIR  OF 

others  neglect,  for  if  more  of  those  who  do  not  en 
gage  in  immoral  practices  were  to  go,  their  example 
would  have  much  more  effect  in  checking  vice  than 
when  abstaining  from  appearing  at  them  at  all.  If 
we  were  to  avoid  everything  which  involves  tempta 
tion,  we  should  neither  enjoy  pleasure  nor  discharge 
our  duties.  It  would  be  arguing  quite  as  well  to  say 
that  it  is  wrong  ever  to  visit  a  tavern,  because  gam 
bling  is  generally  carried  on  at  them,  and  if  nobody 
went  to  them,  there  would  be  nobody  to  play. 

A  certain  degree  of  amusement  is  as  necessary  for 
our  existence  and  the  full  performance  of  the  task 
which  is  set  for  us  in  life,  as  the  discharge  of  almost 
any  other  duty  we  have,  and  as  some  dissipation 
always  attends  public  meetings  or  large  assemblages 
of  every  sort,  and  from  the  nature  of  things  it  is 
impossible  to  put  down  these  last,  the  most  natural 
conclusion  would  be  that  the  good  ought  to  make 
the  presence  of  the  bad,  which  cannot  be  avoided, 
as  little  deleterious  as  possible.  Thus  it  is  that  I 
acquit  myself  of  all  guilt  in  merely  attending  as  a 
spectator;  and  to  show  that  my  conduct  was  not 
very  exceptionable  whilst  out  there,  I  will  say,  not 
in  vanity,  but  in  exculpation,  that  I  did  not  bet  a 
cent,  drink  a  drop  of  liquor,  swear  an  oath,  or  get 
into  any  sort  of  dispute  whatever,  and,  as  far  as  my 
efforts  could  go,  endeavored  to  prevent  everything 
of  the  sort.  The  last  charge  then  is  the  only  one 
against  which  I  have  to  vindicate  myself — I  mean 
that  of  loss  of  time:  how  much  of  this  may  be  law 
fully  devoted  to  amusement  with  regard  to  myself,  I 
claim  to  be  a  better  judge  than  you. 


ROBERT   M.   T.    HUNTER  4! 

My  conscience  acquits  me  of  all  blame  in  this  last, 
as  it  does  indeed  in  the  whole  matter,  for  I  did  not 
miss  a  lecture,  and  made  up  at  night  what  I  had  lost 
in  the  day,  to  do  which  I  had  to  decline  an  invita 
tion  to  a  party  which  I  should  have  been  gratified  in 
attending.  So  that  you  see  I  have  been  able  to  re 
strain  my  pleasure  in  some  degree  at  least. 

I  thought  when  I  first  opened  your  letter  that  you 
meant  to  accuse  me  of  some  penitentiary  offense, 
but  I  was  a  little  consoled  even  then  by  reflecting 
that  the  orthodox  Miss  Hannah  More  had  proved 
that  the  best  man  in  the  world  must  necessarily  vio 
late  the  whole  decalogue  every  day  of  his  life,  and 
was  quite  delighted  to  find  the  whole  charge  no 
worse  than  that  of  having  walked  a  mile  to  see  a 
horse  run  a  mile.  The  only  part  of  the  whole  matter 
that  I  regret  is  that  Aunt  Patsy  was  displeased  at  it, 
for  it  would  have  given  me  much  more  pleasure  to 
gratify  her  than  to  have  seen  the  race.  With  regard 
to  yourself,  it  has  only  confirmed  me  in  my  deter 
mination  to  insist  positively  upon  your  renouncing 
"  Coelebs  "  and  "  The  Two  Wealthy  Farmers/'  for 
the  immaculate  Miss  Hannah  is  the  greatest  foe  to 
all  sorts  of  pleasure,  innocent  as  well  as  guilty,  that 
I  ever  knew.  Indeed,  she  is  opposed  on  principle  to 
pleasantness  in  style  even,  and  yet  that  is  the  lady 
who  could  titter  with  Boswell  behind  the  screen  at 
Dr.  Johnson's  broad  jokes. 

But  your  address  to  me  on  another  subject  was 
deserving,  I  confess,  of  most  serious  consideration. 
It  awakened  feelings  which  I  had  long  since  endeav 
ored  to  lull  to  repose.  I  acknowledge  and  feel  the 
vanity  of  human  pursuits,  yet  hug  my  delusion,  and 


42  A   MEMOIR  OF 

can  neither  describe  nor  account  for  my  feelings  on 
the  subject.  It  is  enough  to  say  that  there  is  some 
thing  too  awful  in  the  view  of  mortality  to  give  me 
either  pleasure  or  satisfaction  in  considering  it.  Al 
though  I  sometimes  feel  as  if  I  could  face  death  with 
resignation  and  composure,  I  am  still  aware  of  the 
little  preparation  which  I  have  made  for  such  a 
change.  The  thoughts  of  leaving  time  and  launching 
forth  into  eternity,  of  closing  my  eyes  upon  this 
world  forever,  of  severing  ties  which  can  only  be 
broken  with  the  cord  of  existence  itself,  affect  my 
mind  with  sensations  which  are  anything  but  pleas 
ing.  There  is  a  mystery  about  the  subject  baffling 
inquiry,  and  in  this  state  of  awful  uncertainty  we 
cannot  but  fear  a  change  of  whose  nature  we  are 
unable  to  form  any  idea.  Nay,  we  almost  lose  the 
notion  of  identity  when  we  consider  the  separation 
to  be  effected  between  soul  and  body,  and  that  while 
one  exists  through  all  eternity,  the  other  is  moulder 
ing  in  silent  dust. 

When  you  write  to  William,  do  try  to  dissuade 
him  from  his  mad  project  of  entering  college  after 
Christmas:  it  is  decidedly  the  wildest  notion  I  ever 
knew. 

We  may  mention  here  that  this  'brother, 
William,  the  last  child  of  James  Hunter's  first 
wife,  who  died  at  his  birth,  carried  out  his  plan 
of  entering  college,  and  died  there  of  typhoid 
fever  on  the  sixth  of  February,  1829.  His 
short  life  was  rendered  happy  by  a  bright  and 
genial  nature,  which  won  for  him  many  friends. 
At  the  time  of  his  mother's  death  he  was  taken 


ROBERT   M.   T.    HUNTER  43 

by  his  uncle's  wife,  Mrs.  William  Garnett  of 
Rose  Hill,  and  tenderly  nurtured  by  her.  He 
was  regarded  by  his  uncle  and  aunt  as  their 
own  child,  and  they  resented  his  being  re 
claimed  by  his  father  upon  his  second  mar 
riage.  Little  William,  returning  to  the  pa 
rental  home  when  he  was  eight  years  old,  be 
came  the  spoiled  pet  of  the  family,  endeared 
to  all  by  his  sweet  and  lovable  nature,  and  in 
after  years  his  friends  told  anecdotes  and  quot 
ed  sayings  of  the  bright  boy,  whose  life  ended 
too  early  to  have  known  any  shadows.  He 
did  not  have  the  grave  and  studious  tastes  of 
his  brother  Robert,  and  was  more  popular  with 
his  young  companions. 


CHAPTER  IV. 

POLITICS  AND  MARRIAGE. 

On  his  return  from  college  and  law  school, 
Mr.  Hunter  purchased  a  forest  farm,  by  the 
advice  of  friends,  for  Hunter's  Hill  was  con 
sidered  unhealthy  as  a  place  of  residence.  The 
new  house  was  built  on  an  unimproved  estate 
near  the  little  village  of  Lloyds,  about  three 
miles  higher  up  the  country  and  further  from 
the  Rappahannock  River  than  Hunter's  Hill. 
Thither  the  family  removed,  and  "  Fonthill," 
under  their  management,  planted  and  im 
proved  with  best  taste  and  care,  was  rapid 
ly  transformed  from  a  barren  waste  to  an  at 
tractive  and  inviting  place  of  residence.  There 
was  at  one  time  an  idea  prevailing  among  his 
friends  that  Mr.  Hunter  would  do  well  to  leave 
his  native  State  and  settle  in  New  Orleans  to 
practice  law,  but  this  was  abandoned,  and  we 
find  him  in  1830  following  his  profession  in  his 
own  county,  but  his  mind  and  interests  ever 
turned  to  politics.  In  1835,  when  but  twenty- 
six  years  of  age,  he  was  elected  to  the  House 
of  Delegates  from  Essex,  and  served  during 
the  sessions  of  1835-36  and  1836-37. 

44 


ROBERT  M.   T.    HUNTER  4$ 

When  young  Hunter  entered  the  House  of 
Delegates,  Littleton  Waller  Tazewell  was  the 
Governor  of  the  State,  and  the  first  state  paper 
upon  which  he  was  called  to  act  was  the  mes 
sage  of  the  Executive.    Mr.  Micou,  in  his  bio 
graphical  sketch  of  Mr.   Hunter,  written  for 
the  Richmond  Dispatch,  says :     "  Some  of  his 
contemporaries    at    that    first    session    were 
Thomas  W.  Gilmer,  Valentine  Southall,  Ed 
mund  P.  Hunter,  William  R.  Johnson  (remem 
bered  as  a  famous  turfman  as  well  as  a  states 
man),  John  M.  Gregory,  Fayette  McMullin, 
John  Minor  Botts  (who  contested  the  seat  of 
William  B.  Randolph,  and  was  seated  Decem 
ber  24,  1835),  Hugh  A.  Garland,  George  W. 
Summers,  Vincent  Witcher,  and  O.  M.  Crutch- 
field,  and  in   1836-37  we  find   in  the   House 
some  of  the  above,  together  with  Thomas  H. 
Bagley,  Alexander    Rives,  Thomas    Jefferson 
Randolph,  A.  H.  H.  Stuart,  William  L.  Gog- 
gin,  Robert  W.  Withers,  John  R.  Edmunds, 
Robert  McCandlish,  Joseph  Segar,  and  Sam 
uel  McDowell  Moore.     This  period  is  made 
memorable  by  the  discussion  and  adoption  of 
the  Virginia  resolutions  in  regard  to  the  anti- 
slavery  associations  formed  in  the  Northern 
States,  which  denied  the  power  of  Congress  to 


46  A  MEMOIR  OF 

legislate  on  the  subject,  and  by  the  discussions 
on  the  '  Expounding  Resolutions/ 

"  Upon  the  latter,  Mr.  Hunter  made  probably 
his  first  speech  in  the  Virginia  Legislature, 
February  26,  1836." 

It  was  a  very  memorable  period  in  his  life, 
besides  its  political  importance,  for  in  that  first 
session  he  met  his  future  wife,  Miss  Dan- 
dridge,  the  niece  of  Judge  Tucker's  wife,  whom 
he  had  first  seen  as  a  child  at  her  uncle's  house 
in  Winchester. 

She  was  now  a  lovely  girl  of  eighteen,  as  he 
describes  her  in  a  letter  to  his  sister  Jane, 
written  at  the  beginning  of  their  acquaint 
ance: 

She  is  young,  handsome,  intelligent,  cheerful, 
agreeable  and  good.  Do  my  adjectives  startle  you? 
They  need  not,  for  they  are  not  extravagant,  and  yet 
what  I  have  said  is  so  little  like  what  I  want  to  say 
that  I  am  tempted  to  throw  my  letter  into  the  fire,  as 
I  have  thrown  several  before.  She  is  of  good  family, 
well  connected,  reared  by  a  religious  mother,  and,  I 
believe,  high-souled.  I  find  that  I  cannot  safely  be 
with  her  much  more,  unless  I  mean  to  proceed  with 
the  matter. 

I  know  that  it  seems  ridiculous  to  be  thus  drawing 
the  character  of  one  of  whom  I  have  seen,  com 
paratively  speaking,  so  little,  and  yet  these  impres 
sions  have  fastened  themselves  upon  me.  Some 
thing,  coming  from  I  know  not  where,  is  ever  urging 


ROBERT   M.   T.    HUNTER  47 

me  onward,  and  my  friend  Shirley  Carter  says  "  The 
Lord  sends  it  to  us."  I  have  a  capacity  for  feelings 
which  have  never  yet  been  developed  or  expressed, 
and  am  capable  of  a  devotion  of  which,  perhaps,  I 
am  not  suspected.  I  have  never  seen  the  day  when 
I  would  barter  them  for  mere  wealth,  or  the  more 
enlarged,  but  equally  selfish,  views  of  ambition.  I 
only  ask  a  return;  but  no  more  on  this  head,  or  I 
shall  verge  upon  the  sentimental. 

Mary  Evelina  Dandridge,  the  youngest 
daughter  of  Adam  Stephen  (or  Stevens)  Dan 
dridge,  of  the  Bower,  Jefferson  County,  then 
in  Virginia,  now  in  West  Virginia,  deserved 
all  the  adjectives  applied  by  her  young  lover. 
She  was  destined  to  be  the  crown  and  blessing 
of  his  life,  for  no  man  was  ever  more  happily 
married.  She  was  descended  from  Alexander 
Spottswood,  or  Spottiswoode  (Governor  of 
Virginia  in  Queen  Anne's  time),  whose  daugh 
ter  Dorothea  married  Nathaniel  West  Dand 
ridge,  and  their  son,  Alexander  Spottswood 
Dandridge,  was  the  grandfather  of  Mrs.  R.  M. 
T.  Hunter. 

Mr.  William  Spottswood  Fontaine,  in  a  let 
ter  to  Mr.  Hunter  of  August  7,  1848,  says  that 
his  (Mr.  Fontaine's)  mother  was  a  niece  of 
Captain  A.  S.  Dandridge,  and  told  him  that 
her  uncle  was  a  native  of  Hanover  County, 
Virginia,  and  a  captain  in  the  Revolutionary 


48  A   MEMOIR  OF 

War,  in  which  he  distinguished  himself.  In 
May,  1795,  he  had  been  a  member  of  the  first 
Kentucky  Convention.  He  married  a  daughter 
of  General  Stevens,  and  must  have  made  his 
home  in  the  Valley  of  Virginia,  as  his  family 
continued  to  hold  property  and  reside  there. 
His  son,  Adam  Stephen  Dandridge,  married 
Miss  Sarah  Pendleton,  and  their  home  was 
"  The  Bower,"  in  Jefferson  County. 

There  is  among  Mr.  Hunter's  papers  an 
order  from  a  Colonel  Alexander  Spottswood, 
written  in  December,  1776,  for  regimental 
goods,  to  James  Hunter,  a  merchant  of  Fred- 
ericksburg,  Virginia,  the  great-uncle  of  Rob 
ert  Hunter.  The  order  follows,  with  spelling 
and  capitals  copied: 
Dear  Sir: 

I  have  at  last  obtained  an  Order  of  Council  for  the 
Goods  I  laid  by  in  your  store,  which  is  to  be  charged 
to  the  Continent.  I  cannot  conveniently  send  for 
them  before  the  first  of  January,  when  I  shall  send 
up  an  officer  with  the  Order  to  Receive  them.  You'l 
please  to  mark  the  2nd  Regt.  on  them,  and  Lay  them 
on  one  Side,  with  all  the  White  Binding  you  have  in 
your  Store,  and  White  Mettle  Buttons. 
I  am  yr.  obt  st.  (sic), 

ALEXR.  SPOTTSWOOD. 

I4th.  Dec.  1776. 

This  order  is  labeled  "  1777.     Col.  Alexr. 
Spottswood,"  and  was  probably  filled  and  dis- 


ROBERT   M.   T.    HUNTER  49 

patched  in  the  new  year.  We  thus  find  the 
relatives  of  Robert  Hunter  and  Mary  E. 
Dandridge  in  business  communication  with 
each  other,  unconscious  of  the  future  family 
connection  which  the  new  century  would 
bring. 

Mary  Dandridge,  or  "  Line/'1  as  she  was 
generally  called  by  her  family,  was  a  belle 
among  her  cousins  and  acquaintances,  and 
some  of  her  admirers  playfully  called  her  the 
"  Queen  of  the  Valley,"  for  the  bright  grac- 
iousness  of  her  manners  won  for  her  as  many 
hearts  as  the  attraction  of  her  beauty. 

Her  first  cousin,  Philip  Pendleton  Cooke, 
wrote  his  best  known  and  most  musical  verses, 
"  Florence  Vane,"  under  the  inspiration  of  her 
charms,  and  was  an  ardent  suitor  for  her  hand. 
She  was  also  beloved  by  another  cousin,  ex 
ceptionally  gifted  in  mind  and  person,  who 
captivated  her  girlish  fancy;  but  her  family 
objected  to  the  young  man  on  the  score  of 
dissipation,  and  the  mutual  understanding  was 
broken  off. 

Mary  Dandridge  was  sent  by  her  anxious 
mother  to  spend  a  winter  in  Richmond  with 
the  family  of  her  uncle,  Judge  Tucker,  and 


1  Pronounced  Lene. 


5O  A   MEMOIR  OF 

here  at  little  more  than  eighteen  she  met  her 
future  husband,  R.  M.  T.  Hunter.  As  soon 
as  the  rumor  of  this  affair  reached  Mr.  Hun 
ter's  family  in  Essex,  his  sister  Jane,  after 
writing  on  other  subjects,  noticed  it  as  fol 
lows: 

And  now  I  must  tell  you  a  piece  of  news  that  I 
heard  an  hour  or  two  ago,  one  in  which  both  you 
and  ourselves  are  deeply  interested.  Can  you  guess 
it?  If  you  can,  it  is  true.  Mr.  P.  came  up  from 
Tappahannock  today,  and  tells  us  he  hears  you  are 
going  to  be  married;  he  seems  prodigiously  inter 
ested,  and  says  if  it  is  so,  he  thinks  he  must  go  over 
to  Richmond  to  see  the  lady.  Now  if  it  is  so,  let  me 
know  in  time  to  have  a  clean  dress  done  up  to  meet 
her  in  when  she  comes,  and  again,  if  she  is  anybody, 
who  is  she?  You  know  I  have  long  wanted  another 
sister,  but  do  let  her  be  a  fine  one. 

We  are,  as  you  may  guess,  full  of  conjectures  on 
the  subject.  Mr.  P.  has,  I  believe,  no  doubt  of  its 

truth,  though  I  can  hear  no  grounds,  but  that  

heard  it. 

I  should  have  felt  more  excited,  but  that  I  am  so 
anxious  to  hear  you  are  well  again  that  I  have  no 
other  anxiety  to  spare.  Why  does  not  the  legislature 
rise?  I  hope  this  first  bright  weather  may  make 
them  long  for  a  sight  of  their  own  fields  again.  I 
should  think  they  would  be  weary  of  a  dirty  town  by 
this  time,  and  am  sure  I  would  not  put  myself  under 
such  confinement  for  all  the  honors  to  be  won  there. 
Tell  them  I  make  a  motion  to  adjourn. 


ROBERT   M.   T.    HUNTER  5! 

The  writer  of  the  above  playful  lines  could 
not  then  foresee  the  infinite  joy  and  comfort 
which  this  marriage  -was  destined  to  afford, 
not  only  to  her  personally,  but  to  the  whole 
family  and  connection.  The  young  bride-elect 
was  to  be  in  the  early  days  of  her  married  life 
the  petted  and  beloved  younger  sister,  and 
afterwards  the  valued  mainstay  of  the  family, 
to  whom  she  brought  the  sunshine  of  her 
bright  and  loving  nature. 

The  marriage  took  place  on  the  4th  of  Oc 
tober,  1836,  two  days  after  the  bride's  nine 
teenth  birthday,  at  her  home,  '  The  Bower,"  in 
Jefferson  County.  From  this  union  nine  chil 
dren  were  born,  but  only  four  survived  their 
parents,  as  will  be  seen  in  the  progress  of  this 
sketch.  To  show  the  high  estimation  in  which 
Mr.  Hunter  was  held  by  his  family  and  friends, 
we  subjoin  extracts  from  some  letters  written 
during  his  terms  of  service  in  the  State  Legis 
lature.  His  sisters  were  all  women  of  intelli 
gence  and  culture,  but  Jane  S.  Hunter,  the 
third  of  these  sisters,  was  perhaps  the  most 
remarkable  of  the  family  for  originality  of 
mind  and  force  of  character. 

She  was  almost  entirely  self-educated,  but 
her  thirst  for  knowledge  led  her  to  the  attain 
ment  of  a  wider  culture  than  many  carefully 


52  A  MEMOIR  OF 

trained  students  can  claim,  and  her  mascu 
line  disregard  of  the  usual  pursuits  of  her  sex 
left  her  free  to  follow  her  natural  bent.  Her 
strong,  clear  judgment  and  superior  facul 
ties  were  crowned  by  a  rare  unselfishness  and 
benevolence,  which,  animated  by  a  sincere 
Christian  faith,  inspired  her  untiring  efforts 
for  the  good  of  others.  Her  ready  sympathies 
were  not  only  enlisted  by  any  tale  of  sickness 
or  sorrow,  but  her  active  energies  never  rested 
without  at  least  an  attempt  to  relieve  them. 

To  her  own  family  her  aid  and  counsel  were 
invaluable,  and  her  devotion  to  the  members 
of  her  home  circle  never  induced  her  to  lower 
for  a  moment  the  lofty  standard  which  she 
held  before  them,  as  before  herself.  Her  sis 
ters,  Martha  and  Sally,  shared  her  high,  un 
selfish  views,  and  co-operated  with  her  in  all 
her  schemes  of  philanthropy.  The  eldest 
daughter,  Mrs.  Garnett,  had,  as  we  have  said, 
another  home,  but  spent  much  time  with  her 
brother.  During  Mr.  Hunter's  first  legislative 
term,  Jane  Hunter  wrote  to  him  as  follows: 

December  I7th,  1835. 
My  Dear  Robert: 

It  seems  hardly  worth  writing,  when  we  expect 
you  so  soon,  but  that  you  may  not  have  it  to  say 
that  you  did  not  receive  a  line  from  me  while  you 


ROBERT  M.  T.    HUNTER  53 

were  away,  I  have  taken  my  pen.  We  concluded 
from  the  Enquirer  that  the  Assembly  adjourned  last 
Saturday,  and  we  were  looking  for  you  all  day  Mon 
day,  but  as  we  have  heard  nothing  more  of  it  since 
I  suppose  it  is  next  Saturday,  instead  of  the  last, 
that  they  will  adjourn. 

I  felt  more  than  ever  anxious  for  you  to  get  over 
after  I  heard  of  your  having  such  a  bad  cold.  I 
know  change  of  air  and  a  wood  fire  would  cure  it  at 
once. 

I  put  my  blessing  on  Richmond  when  I  heard  how 
much  indisposed  you  had  been,  and  should  be  very 
glad  for  the  Assembly  to  rise  the  first  of  February, 
even  though  our  Benjamin  should  go  unelected,  and 
indeed  I  think  the  best  thing  that  can  be  done  is  to 
come  home.  This  present  situation  reminds  me  very 
much  of  the  scene  in  the  "  Critic  "  where  they  all 
stand  with  drawn  swords  without  knowing  what  to 
do  next.  They  tell  me  you  are  all  servants  of  the 
people,  and,  if  so,  I  am  sure  I  don't  know  how  you 
are  to  act  when  your  masters  do  not  know  their  own 
minds. 

My  greatest  anxiety  in  the  matter  is  to  see  that  you 
are  in  the  House,  as  that  shows  me  you  are  well 
enough  to  attend. 

I  saw  L.  B.  the  other  day  and  she  told  me  she  al 
ways  looked  in  the  papers  for  your  name;  she  said 
you  had  not  written  to  Mr.  Baylor,  but  she  supposed 
from  the  different  committees  she  saw  your  name 
on  that  you  had  not  had  time. 

Your  friend  Mr.  P.  was  here  this  morning,  and 
says  he  knows  you  will  be  very  popular  in  the  House, 
but  I  should  think  that  would  take  more  than  one 


54  A  MEMOIR  OF 

session,  and  I  am  sure  at  that  price  I  would  not  wish 
you  to  be.  There  is  nothing  new  amongst  us  of  any 
kind,  except  about  a  dozen  weddings  that  are  to 
take  place  in  the  next  week.  I  hope  we  shall  hear 
from  you  tomorrow,  and  then  we  shall  know  certainly 
what  day  to  look  out,  and  not  keep  the  tea-kettle 
boiling,  as  sister  Martha  has  been  doing  for  you  for 
some  nights  past. 

It  is  hardly  worth  saying  that  all  send  their  love,  as 
you  know  that  is  with  you  at  home  and  abroad. 

They  have  come  for  my  letter,  so  farewell  until 
next  week.  Yours, 

J.  S.  HUNTER. 

In  a  later  letter  of  the  same  winter  she  says: 

Yours  is  a  spirit  which  can  never  be  content  in  the 
fetters  with  which  the  God  of  this  world  loads  his 
victims,  even  though  it  may  wear  them.  Now  there 
is  a  truth  which  can  make  us  free  from  all  spiritual 
bondage,  and  this  truth  God  has  promised  to  reveal 
to  the  hearts  of  all  who  ask  it.  If  I  should  ever  live 
to  see  that  day,  I  should  think  all  my  wishes  for  you 
fulfilled  in  that  one.  I  have  been  pleased  to  hear 
that  you  have  been  enjoying  yourself  more  of  late. 
I  think  the  society  you  have  moved  in  this  winter 
will  be  an  improvement  as  well  as  a  pleasure. 

You  know  even  Aladdin's  lamp  grew  rusty  by  long 
disuse  and  required  a  little  rubbing  to  bring  out  the 
genius  of  bright  things.  I  never  had  any  objection 
to  society,  but  to  the  "  frolicking/'  as  they  call  it,  and 
for  that  I  suppose  I  may  trust  you,  after  the  com 
pliment  I  heard  paid  you  the  other  day  by  your  old 
friend  Mr.  G. 


ROBERT   M.   T.    HUNTER  55 

Talking  of  the  different  parties,  he  said  he  put 
principle  on  party  lines  out  of  the  way  when  he 
voted  for  you.  He  wanted  a  man  without  spot  or 
blemish,  for  though  he  might  frolic  and  do  wrong 
himself,  he  did  not  want  a  member  that  would. 

He  could  have  paid  you  no  compliment  that 
would  have  pleased  me  so  much,  and  I  took  as  much 
pains  to  entertain  him  as  if  he  had  been  Mr.  Leigh. 
It  happened  that  we  had  several  of  your  constitu 
ents  to  see  us  during  the  last  week,  and  they  all  in 
quired  after  "  Robert "  most  affectionately,  Achilles 
Noel  among  others.  From  what  I  hear  on  all  sides, 
I  think  there  will  be  but  little  doubt  of  your  election, 
and  I  believe  you  have  done  right  to  offer  again, 
as  far  as  political  honor  is  concerned.  I  think  that 
quite  a  sufficient  reason,  if  you  do  not  find  it  a  kind 
of  life  that  militates  against  the  good  of  your  soul, 
that  is  with  me  the  paramount  question. 

Your  friend  seems  stepping  into  public  life  as 
gingerly  as  if  he  was  learning  to  walk  on  the  slack 
rope,  but  it  will  not  do;  promptitude  and  decision 
are  everything  in  our  collision  with  the  world.  Set 
them  once  to  doubting  our  objects  and  wishes  and 
they  will  never  take  the  trouble  to  solve  their  doubts. 

There  seems  to  have  been  some  talk  of  a 
judgeship  for  Mr.  Hunter,  and  the  same  sister 
writes  in  one  of  her  letters  about  this  time : 

And  now  with  regard  to  what  has  of  late  interested 
us  so  much — the  judgeship.  I  am  content  that  it 
should  have  been  settled  as  it  is,  and,  although  I  saw 
advantages  in  it,  I  was  not  disappointed,  for  I  always 
calculated  on  obstacles  arising  that  would  prevent 
your  accepting  it,  and  I  need  hardly  say  that  I  would 


56  A   MEMOIR  OF 

not  have  your  honor  compromised  even  in  the  small 
est  degree — no,  not  to  see  you  emperor  of  the  world; 
that  is,  not  what  the  world  calls  honor,  but  what  you 
and  I  consider  as  such,  for  the  definition  the  world 
attaches  to  the  word  is  so  capricious,  and  depends 
so  entirely  on  the  party  that  uses  it,  that  it  is  worse 
than  vain  to  attempt  to  conform  to  such  a  standard. 
I  am  afraid  you  have  had  a  disagreeable  time  in  the 
House,  although  I  know  your  moderation  will  make 
it  less  so  to  you  than  it  would  be  to  most  others. 

I  think  myself  that  the  Jackson  party  are  very 
provoking  and  insulting;  but,  on  the  other  side,  I 
think  it  is  a  wrong  spirit  that  is  urging  the  Whigs 
on  every  occasion  to  broach  the  deadly  differences 
that  are  separating  the  Union,  and  the  prosecution 
of  which  must  end  in  separation  or  in  a  complete  dis 
play  of  our  own  weakness.  Yet  I  still  think  your 
party  is  waging  a  glorious  warfare  that  will  be  re 
warded  in  history,  if  it  is  trampled  under  foot  now. 

It  is  the  old  story  of  Might  against  Right,  and  my 
faith  is  that  the  latter  must  be  ultimately  victorious, 
but  if  the  contest  has  the  effect  of  wearying  you  of 
public  life,  I  shall  not  quarrel  so  much  with  the 
cause.  I  believe  a  nobler  ambition  bounds  your 
horizon  than  what  belongs  to  the  petty  strife  of  polit 
ical  life,  and  you  would  be  far  happier  to  walk  in 
freedom  and  independence  of  mind  the  path  pointed 
out  by  your  own  conscience  and  intellectual  tastes 
than  in  any  reward  that  mere  worldly  ambition  has  to 
bestow.  But  I  am  content  to  trust  your  own  judg 
ment  in  these  things,  because  I  believe  that  God  has 
implanted  his  good  spirit  in  your  heart  that  will 
continue  its  whispering  until  it  wins  you  to  yield 


ROBERT   M.   T.    HUNTER  57 

yourself  to  its  guidance,  and  then,  however  danger 
ous  and  difficult  your  path  may  be,  there  will  be  an 
ever-brightening  light  within  to  illumine  the  way.  I 
have,  like  yourself,  been  thinking  much  of  the  vanity 
of  earthly  things,  and  the  return  of  this  season  always 
deepens  these  impressions. 

In  her  brother's  absence  his  sister  Jane  at 
tended  to  farming  matters  at  home,  and  some 
of  her  reports  to  him,  first  of  difficulties  rep 
resented  to  her  by  different  agents,  and  then 
of  her  proposed  solution  of  them,  are  models 
of  clear,  practical  common-sense.  After  a 
long  letter  about  cross-fences,  crops,  etc.,  she 
writes: 

I  don't  know  whether  I  have  made  myself  plain, 

but  Mr. was  imperative  in  requiring  me  to  make 

the  attempt,  so  there  was  no  alternative.  As  I  can 
hear  no  talk  of  that  blessed  legislature  rising,  it  will 
be  necessary  to  have  something  done  before  you  get 
back,  so  you  must  bring  your  mind  to  bear  on  the 
subject  and  let  me  hear  from  you,  and  then  I  can 
manage  very  smartly.  Is  anything  to  be  done  with 
that  meadow,  and  what  do  you  want  about  the 
ploughing  up  here? 

Now  I  have  finished  my  tiresome  letter,  that  I 
fear  you  will  hardly  have  patience  to  read. 

We  met the  day  we  came  down,  but  had  only 

time  for  a  few  words.  You  will  never  have  occasion 
to  be  your  own  trumpeter  while  he  lives.  Mr.  P. 
says  he  sees  his  prophecies  about  your  standing  in 
the  House  are  more  than  verified;  that  a  friend  says 
he  was  quite  astonished  at  the  progress  you  had 


58  A    MEMOIR  OF 

made,  and  what  pleased  me  most  was  to  hear  it 
was  with  both  parties.  The  Whig  did  not  get  to 
Lloyds  on  Monday,  much  to  the  disappointment 
of  all  your  friends.  For  your  speech,  I  must  say  I 
was  satisfied  with  it,  and  you  know  I  always  value 
my  own  good  opinion  of  my  friends  more  than  that 
of  the  world;  but,  seriously,  I  was  more  pleased  to 
hear  that  you  still  want  to  come  home.  I  trust  that 
you  will  never  value  the  applause  of  the  world  more 
than  purer  pleasures,  and  it  is  my  daily  prayer  that 
you  may  not  love  the  praise  of  men  more  than  the 
praise  of  God.  I  have  less  fear  for  you,  for  I  believe 
you  have  more  pleasure  in  the  consciousness  of 
strength  than  in  the  honors  it  obtains. 

In  regard  to  the  judgeship  mentioned  in 
one  of  the  above  letters,  we  will  insert  two 
other  letters  or  extracts  from  them,  the  first 
from  his  Aunt  Patsy,  loved  and  honored  by 
him  as  a  mother,  and  the  second  from  his  sis 
ter,  M.  F.  Hunter. 

His  aunt's  letter  is  dated  December  19,  but 
no  year  is  given.  It  evidently  belongs  to  the 
close  of  1835: 

Your  letter,  which  I  may  say  I  had  longed  to  re 
ceive,  came,  and  with  it  brought  a  blight  to  my 
fondest  and  most  tenderly  cherished  hope,  and  I 
was  weak  enough  to  suffer  a  tear  to  rise,  but  I  strove 
to  conceal  my  disappointment,  and,  as  is  now  my 
rule,  made  no  expose  of  my  feelings. 


ROBERT   M.   T.    HUNTER  59 

As  you  were  governed  by  the  light  of  conscience 
and  a  sense  of  honor,  I  have  nothing  to  be  dissatis 
fied  at,  but  should  rather  rejoice, — alas  the  flesh  is 
weak.  Now  you  must  not  think  that  pride  or  ambi 
tious  motives  swayed  or  ruled  my  feelings  in  this  my 
ardent  desire,  which  I  allowed  myself  to  hope  would 
be  realized.  No,  I  trust  a  motive  entirely  pure  and 
free  from  everything  selfish  was  predominant,  for  I 
thought  the  appointment  here  alluded  to  would  suit 
your  taste,  allow  you  some  repose,  and,  as  the  Irish 
woman  says  in  the  story,  "  allow  you  to  make  up 
your  soul,"  and  I  felt  no  doubt  of  your  filling  this  or 
any  other  station  honorably. 

So  I  will  not  intrude  my  feelings  on  you  any 
longer,  but  end  by  saying  that  while  I  am  sorry, 
deeply  sorry,  to  find  I  can  hope  no  longer,  I  am 
proud  in  believing  that  you  were  actuated  by  the 
purest  motives,  and  may  God  ever  guide  you  in  the 
path  of  virtue  and  truth.  My  heart  is  bound  to  your 
honor.  I  do  not  know  why  you  complain  of  receiv 
ing  no  letters;  both  Martha  and  Jane  have  written, 
and  the  measles  have  left  without  further  notice.  Ere 
this,  I  expect  Maria  has  written,  but  in  case  she  has 
not  I  will  tell  you  that  the  Elmwood  family  are  all 
well,  and  we  have  reason  to  hope  that  Muscoe's 
teacher  will  turn  out  to  be  well  fitted  to  instruct  his 
pupils. 

Our  neighborhood  news  is  so  poor  and  meagre 
that  I  will  not  attempt  to  tell  it  to  you,  save  that 
your  cousin,  E.  R.,  on  the  morning  of  Tuesday  will 
be  a  bride,  and  will  bid  farewell  to  her  home  imme 
diately  after  the  ceremony,  arrayed  in  cloak  and 
bonnet  of  royal  purple,  but  as  you  are  no  lady,  I 


6O  A  MEMOIR  OF 

cannot  give  you  more  of  these  details,  so  much  the 
subject  of  small  talk  with  us.  You  men  cannot  ap 
preciate  them. 

Your  old  friend  is,  I  believe,  as  attentive  to  your 
concerns  as  if  almost  they  were  his  own,  and  Jane  is 
very  busy  planning,  and  executing,  too,  her  garden 
ing  preparations. 

Martha  wishes  to  speak  for  herself,  so  I  will  bid 
you  farewell,  hoping  we  shall  meet  another  Xmas. 

Fifty-eight  have  I  numbered,  and  my  old  asso 
ciates  and  friends,  with  whom  I  commenced  life,  and 
who  at  this  season  were  wont  to  meet  each  other 
with  kind  and  cheerful  greetings,  have  nearly  all  de 
parted. 

The    season    brings    to    me    most    painful    remi 
niscences,  but  I  promised  to  conclude,  and  so  I  will. 
Affect'ly  yrs., 

M.  T.  H. 

From  his  sister  Martha: 

My  Dear  Robert: 

I  was  surprised  and  sorry  to  find  you  had  not 
received  any  letters  from  home  since  you  left  it,  as  I 
should  always  wish,  as  far  as  any  effort  of  mine  was 
concerned,  to  ward  off  every  care  or  consciousness 
that  could  possibly  arise  to  disturb  your  mind. 

I  have  thought  so  much  of  the  judgeship  that  I 
have  not  liked  to  say  anything  about  it  to  you,  as  I 
know  by  experience  there  are  doubtful  conjunctures 
in  life  when  suggestions,  advice,  and  even  expres 
sions  of  feeling  are  tormenting  from  our  friends, 
and  the  more  so,  even  from  our  confidence  in  their 
affection,  as  we  feel  that  any  step  we  take  which 
concerns  us  materially  must  affect  them  also. 


ROBERT  M.  T.    HUNTER  6l 

But,  as  I  suppose  the  matter  is  by  this  time  de 
cided,  I  must  say,  what  I  hope  you  were  before  as 
sured  of,  that  I  would  not  for  the  world  have  had 
you  to  balance  between  any  motives  of  personal  in 
terest  and  considerations  of  honor;  indeed,  I  was 
so  certain  that  nothing  would  induce  you  to  do  so, 
that  I  felt  almost  what  the  result  would  be. 

Not  that  on  the  face  of  things  I  perceive  any  con 
tradiction  between  honor  and  interest  in  the  affair, 
but  I  know  only  those  who  are  spectators  and  parties 
in  these  matters  are  proper  judges.  Honor  at  the 
best  is  of  a  very  vague,  delicate  and  undefined  na 
ture,  as  Falstaff  has  long  ago  proved,  and  political 
honor  is  the  most  undefined  species  of  it;  but  unsub 
stantial  as  it  is,  much  more  to  be  prized  than  any 
thing  else. 

The  Whigs  may  be  a  falling  party  now,  but  I  can 
not  help  thinking  the  time  will  come,  and  that  per 
haps  not  very  distant,  when  our  country  will  look 
back  with  pride  and  admiration  on  their  gallant, 
disinterested  efforts. 

Should  that  time  never  come,  there  are  walks  of 
life  happier  far,  I  believe,  than  anything  which  po 
litical  life  can  offer,  so  that  there  are  advantages  as 
well  as  disadvantages  in  looking  on  both  sides  of  a 
question.  I  am  very  glad  to  hear  that  you  keep  well. 
Yours  most  truly, 

M.  T.  HUNTER. 

The  same  sister  in  writing  an  anxious  epis 
tle  to  her  brother  about  a  long,  cold  ride  to 
Richmond,  not  long  after  his  marriage,  says: 


62  A  MEMOIR  OF 

It  made  me  sorry  that  you  had  ever  come  over  at 
all,  as  I  would  greatly  rather  have  suffered  pecuniary 
loss  and  inconvenience  than  for  you  to  have  taken 
such  a  trip  on  our  account,  as  things  have  turned 
out,  and  I  regret  the  more  because  I  know  how  will 
ing  you  are,  and  always  have  been,  to  do  anything 
for  us  you  could,  without  regarding  any  personal 
consideration. 

The  ink  is  so  frozen  I  fear  you  can  scarcely  de 
cipher  this.  Tell  Line  [her  sister-in-law]  she  must 
write  as  soon  as  you  receive  this,  if  only  two  or 
three  lines,  to  let  us  hear  from  you.  Jane  says  I 
must  tell  you  she  is  in  a  thousand  fidgets  about  you, 
and  Aunt  P.  says  she  has  felt  as  if  she  had  a  mill 
stone  about  her  neck  ever  since  you  went  away. 

Our  best  love  to  Line.     I  trust  you  are  by  this 
time  safely  by  her  side.     May  God  bless  you. 
Yours  ever, 

M.  T.  HUNTER. 

These  letters  and  extracts  serve  to  show  the 
pride  and  affection  with  which  the  young  pol 
itician  was  regarded  in  his  own  family,  and 
with  one  or  two  written  to  the  young  wife,  by 
a  member  of  her  new  home  circle,  we  will 
close  the  chapter  and  his  term  of  service  in 
the  Virginia  Legislature. 

The  young  nephew  of  R.  M.  T.  Hunter, 
whose  after  career  so  fully  realized  his  early 
promise,  was  at  this  time  a  youth  in  his  six 
teenth  year,  and  writes  to  his  new  sister,  as 


ROBERT   M.   T.    HUNTER  63 

he  called  his  uncle's  wife,  who  was  only  a 
few  years  older  than  himself,  from  his  home 
at  Elmwood: 

January  I3th,  1837. 

I  am  sorry  that  it  has  not  been  in  my  power  to 
write  before.  I  have  been  so  busy  lately  that  I  have 
had  but  little  time. 

Indeed,  my  hands  are  still  full,  so  full  that  I  should 
defer  my  letter  still  longer  did  I  not  know  that  if 
possible  I  will  be  still  more  occupied  for  the  next 
few  weeks  than  before.  Accordingly,  I  seize  the 
present  time,  fearing  that  a  delay  might  prevent  my 
writing  at  all. 

I  speak  quite  as  a  man  of  business,  don't  I?  I 
talk  of  my  business  as  much  as  any  public  character 
could  do  of  his,  yet  I  do  not  exaggerate,  for  I  have 
to  study  very  hard. 

Whenever  I  go  to  Fonthill  now  I  miss  you  sadly; 
indeed,  now  you  have  once  been  there,  I  don't  know 
how  we  ever  did  without  you.  I  missed  your  sing 
ing  greatly,  but  yourself  more. 

I  was  disappointed  at  not  seeing  you  at  Xmas, 
though  I  can't  say  that  I  expected  you.  You  sent 
me  word  by  Uncle  Robert  that  your  next  letter 
should  be  to  me,  and  I  hold  you  bound  to  keep  your 
promise.  I  am  anxious  to  receive  a  letter  from  you, 
and  have  carefully  perused  all  your  Essex  letters. 

I  hardly  think  that  mother  and  I  will  see  you  in 
Richmond  this  winter.  Grandma  is  so  unwell  that  we 
would  not  like  to  leave  her,  but  if  she  gets  much 
better  I  entertain  a  faint  hope  of  seeing  you  towards 
the  end  of  February. 


64  A  MEMOIR  OF 

All  the  Fonthill  family  came  up  yesterday  evening 
on  a  visit  of  two  or  three  weeks,  and  I  was  delighted 
to  see  them.  I  must  leave  room  for  the  song.  You 
remember  you  promised  to  introduce  it  this  winter, 
if  you  have  to  go  to  a  party  solely  for  that  purpose, 
yet  you  must  do  it.  I  am  quite  anxious  to  hear  of 
"  the  new  song  introduced  by  Mrs.  Hunter  of  Essex, 
at  Mr.  's  party." 

When  did  you  last  hear  from  Mrs.  Dandridge?  I 
shall  like  to  hear  how  she  and  all  your  other  friends 
and  relatives  are.  I  was  glad  to  hear  that  your 
brother  Philip  had  determined  to  join  Uncle  Charles. 
I  hope  they  will  find  mutual  pleasure  and  advantage 
in  their  acquaintance.  Now  for  the  song.  It  is  by 
Dietmar  von  Aste,  a  Minnesinger: 

"  There  sate  upon  the  linden  tree 

A  bird,  and  sang  its  strain; 
So  sweet  it  sang,  that  as  I  heard 

My  heart  went  back  again. 
It  went  to  one  remembered  spot, 

It  saw  the  rose-trees  grow, 
And  thought  again  the  thoughts  of  love 

There  cherished  long  ago. 

"  A  thousand  years  to  me  it  seems 

Since  by  my  fair  I  sate  ; 
Yet  thus  to  be  a  stranger  long 

Is  not  my  choice,  but  fate: 
Since  then  I  have  not  seen  the  flowers 

Nor  heard  the  bird's  sweet  song; 
My  joys  have  all  too  briefly  passed, 

My  griefs  been  all  too  long." 

It  would  take  me  a  week  and  a  day  to  tell  all  the 
messages  about  your  headaches,  and  to  give  all  the 


ROBERT   M.   T.    HUNTER  65 

love  sent  you  by  me,  and  all  the  Fonthill  and  Elm- 
wood  families.    My  best  love  to  Uncle  Robert. 
Yours  very  sincerely, 

MUSCOE  R.  H.  GARNETT. 

We  anticipate  a  little  in  here  inserting  a  let 
ter  from  the  same  young  scribe,  written  while 
at  the  University  of  Virginia,  to  Mrs.  Hunter, 
after  her  husband's  election  to  the  House  of 
Representatives : 

December  ;th,  1838. 
My  Dear  Sister: 

Happy  as  I  know  you  are  in  being  at  your  old 
home,  I  am  still  selfish  enough  to  feel  a  sort  of  regret 
every  time  I  think  of  it.  I  am  not  bad  enough  abso 
lutely  to  wish  you  back  in  Essex,  but  then  I  cannot 
tell  you  how  much  I  shall  miss  you  at  Xmas.  I  had 
promised  myself  so  much  pleasure  in  meeting  you, 
and  I  had  looked  forward  to  such  a  happy  reunion  of 
all  that  it  is  a  great  disappointment  to  find  that  one 
seat  in  our  circle  will  be  vacant.  And  then  I  shall 
hear  none  of  your  songs;  you  had  promised  to  sing 
all  my  favorites.  The  idea  of  not  seeing  you  until 
July  is  bad,  indeed;  only  three  months  have  passed, 
and  yet  it  seems  as  many  years  since  I  was  at  Font- 
hill,  and  I  suppose  at  that  rate  the  next  seven  months 
will  be  an  awfully  long  period.  However,  every  time 
I  wish  you  at  home  I  feel  my  conscience  condemn 
me. 

I  know  how  much  you  are  enjoying  yourself  at 
"  The  Bower,"  and  how  wrong  it  is  to  wish  you 
back,  merely  on  personal  motives. 


66  A   MEMOIR  OF 

Mother  wrote  me  she  saw  you  and  Uncle  Robert 
at  Elmwood  the  evening  of  her  return.  You  may 
imagine  how  much  pleasure  her  visit  gave  me.  I 
don't  think  words  ever  sounded  half  so  sweet  to  me 
as  when  some  one  told  me  that  my  "Ma  wanted  me." 

The  only  drawback  to  my  pleasure  was  the  short 
ness  of  her  time.  She  stayed  only  two  days — very 
happy,  but  very  short,  days.  I  suppose  she  gave  you 

an  account  of 's  courtship.  He  was  very  open, 

and  talked  over  the  whole  affair  with  me,  and  told  me 
all  the  particulars,  some  of  which  were  very  laugh 
able,  but  hardly  more  so  than  his  manner  in  telling 
them.  I  received  letters  from  home  yesterday,  dated 
last  Monday. 

I  hear  that  the  President's  message  again  recom 
mends  the  sub-Treasury,  so  I  suppose  there  will  be 
another  warm  debate  on  it  in  Congress,  and  that 
Uncle  Robert  will  join  in  it  again. 

How  I  should  like  to  be  there  to  hear  him!  You 
remember  the  evening  he  expected  to  speak,  and 
we  were  to  have  gone  up  together,  and  you  wished 
to  get  behind  a  pillar  so  that  he  might  not  discover 
you  listening?  I  look  back  very  often  with  the  great 
est  pleasure  to  the  short  time  I  spent  in  Washington 
last  spring. 

I  had  not  seen  Uncle  Robert  and  yourself  for  so 
long  a  time,  and  everything  seemed  so  new  to  me, 
that  I  enjoyed  myself  highly. 


CHAPTER  V. 

PUBLIC  LIFE. 

Mr.  Hunter  was  elected  to  the  House  of 
Representatives  in  1837,  where  he  served  con 
tinuously  until  1847,  with  the  exception  of 
one  term,  when  he  was  defeated  by  a  small 
majority  by  the  Hon.  Willoughby  Newton  of 
Westmoreland  County. 

"  During  the  sessions  of  1839,  I^4°  an^ 
1841  he  was  Speaker  of  the  House,  and  his 
rulings  made  during  that  period  are  still  re 
garded  as  of  high  authority  on  questions  of 
parliamentary  law.  In  that  body  he  advo 
cated  the  annexation  of  Texas,  the  compro 
mise  of  the  Oregon  question,  the  retrocession 
of  Alexandria  to  Virginia,  and  supported  the 
Walker  tariff  of  1846.  In  December,  1847, 
he  was  elected  by  the  General  Assembly  to  the 
United  States  Senate,  and  soon  took  a  lead 
ing  position  in  that  body  among  such  distin 
guished  statesmen  as  Calhoun,  Clay,  Webster, 
Cass,  Benton,  and  others  of  less  note,  and  at 
a  later  period  he,  with  Davis  of  Mississippi, 
and  Toombs  of  Georgia,  constituted  what  was 
known  as  the  Southern  Triumvirate. 

67 


68  A  MEMOIR  OF 

"  Early  in  his  Congressional  career  he 
adopted  in  the  main  the  States'  Rights  and 
low  tariff  views  of  Mr.  Calhoun,  and  wa& 
among  the  ablest  disciples  and  supporters  of 
that  eminent  statesman. 

"  He  voted  for  the  Clayton  compromise, 
and  the  extension  of  the  line  36  degrees  30 
minutes,  established  by  the  Missouri  Compro 
mise  of  1820,  to  the  Pacific. 

"As  chairman  of  the  Committee  on  Finance  in 
the  Senate,  he  made  an  able  and  exhaustive  re 
port  on  the  coinage  of  the  country,  and  recom 
mended  and  secured  a  redaction  of  the  quantity 
of  silver  in  the  smaller  coins,  which  checked 
their  exportation  to  foreign  countries.  He  was 
the  author  of  the  tariff  of  1857,  which  effected 
a  considerable  reduction  in  duties  and  en 
larged  the  free  list.  He  originated  the 
bonded-warehouse  system,  under  which  im 
ported  goods  were  allowed  to  remain  in  Gov 
ernment  warehouses  until  the  owners  desired 
to  put  them  upon  the  market,  the  duty  be 
ing  paid  at  the  time  of  withdrawal,  a  system 
which  was  a  great  convenience  to  merchants, 
and  entailed  no  loss  on  the  Government,  and 
which  is  still  continued. 

"  He  advocated  the  admission  of  Kansas  un 
der  the  LeCompton  Constitution,  and  in  1860 


ROBERT   M.   T.    HUNTER  69 

made  an  elaborate  speech  in  the  Senate  in 
defense  of  slavery  and  the  right  of  a  slave 
holder  to  carry  his  property  into  the  Terri 
tories.  He  was  a  prominent  candidate  for  the 
Presidency  in  that  year,  having  secured  the 
Virginia  delegation  over  ex-Governor  Henry 
A.  Wise,  which  fact  attests  his  great  popular 
ity  in  the  State,  as  the  delegates  were  elected 
by  conventions  held  in  each  Congressional  dis 
trict. 

"  He  was  the  orator  of  the  day  on  the  22d 
of  February,  1858,  when  Crawford's  eques 
trian  statue  of  Washington,  which  stands  on 
the  Capitol  Square,  was  unveiled.  His  ad 
dress,  delivered  in  the  City  of  Richmond,  Vir 
ginia,  in  the  campaign  of  1852,  in  which  he 
traced  the  growth  and  history  of  parties,  and 
demonstrated  the  soundness  of  the  States' 
Rights  view  of  the  nature  of  the  Federal  com 
pact,  is  one  of  the  ablest  popular  disquisitions 
on  that  subject,  and  the  address  in  the  African 
Church  in  the  memorable  Know-Nothing  cam 
paign  of  1855,  on  tne  dangers  to  be  appre 
hended  from  secret  political  parties,  is  still  re 
ferred  to  by  those  who  heard  it  as  a  master 
piece  of  eloquence,  oratory,  and  overwhelm 
ing  logic."1 

Wide  sketch  of  R.  M.  T.  Hunter  written  for  the 
Richmond  Dispatch,  December  13,  1891,  by  A.  R. 
Micou. 


7O  A  MEMOIR  OF 

In  December,  1839,  Mr.  Cralle  wrote  from 
Lynchburg,  Virginia,  to  Mr.  Calhoun,  apro 
pos  of  Mr.  Hunter's  election  as  Speaker: 

I  do  not  know  exactly  the  state  of  parties  in  the 
House.  The  election  of  Hunter  adds  to  the  mystery, 
when  I  look  at  the  votes  for  Lewis.  But  this  is  a 
mere  episode  in  the  play. 

I  trust  that  Hunter  will  fulfil  the  expectations  of 
his  true  friends;  will  vindicate  his  character  for  up 
rightness  and  independence;  and  look  steadily  to  the 
advancement  of  those  principles  with  which  the 
names  of  his  ancestors,  the  character  of  his  State,  arid 
his  own  are  so  fully  identified. 

He  has  but  to  adhere  to  the  strict  parliamentary 
rule  in  the  appointment  of  committees,  etc.,  to  place 
his  reputation  on  a  firm  basis.  I  much  esteem  him, 
and  sincerely  hope  he  will  do  this.  If  he  sides  with 
the  Federalists,  he  is  lost  beyond  redemption.  I  was 
never  more  confident  of  any  result  than  that  of  the 
election  in  Virginia.  The  Whigs  will  be  routed, 
"  horse,  foot  and  dragoons." 

There  is  no  possible  chance  for  their  success. 
Harrison  will  fall  far  below  the  standard  of  Clay  in 
the  State. 

Upon  this  you  may  rely  with  the  utmost  con 
fidence. 

A  letter  from  Mr.  Calhoun,  written  in  the 
same  year,  but  a  few  months  previous  to  the 
above,  says: 


ROBERT   M.   T.    HUNTER  /I 

FONTHILL,  June,  1839. 
My  Dear  Sir: 

I  write  to  say  to  you  how  much  I  am  gratified 
with  the  success  of  your  election.  The  struggle  in 
Virginia  seemed  to  be  to  destroy  all  who  would  not 
range  themselves  under  the  flag  of  the  Administra 
tion  or  opposition,  as  mere  partisans,  and  that  you 
should  have  sufficient  strength  of  yourself  to  main 
tain  your  position  between  the  contending  parties  is 
a  source  of  joy  to  your  friends  in  this  State,  and  to 
none  more  than  myself. 

What  is  the  true  result  of  your  election,  and  what 
is  the  future  prospect  of  Virginia?  Is  she  destined 
to  be  bound  by  the  mere  trammels  of  party,  or  is 
there  a  prospect  that  she  will  ever  assume  independ 
ent  ground  on  her  former  principles? 

What  course  did  the  two  parties  take  in  reference 
to  yourself?  Who  brought  out  your  old  opponent, 
and  on  what  ground  did  he  place  his  election?  Our 
State  is  profoundly  quiet. 

Public  sentiment  approaches  to  something  like 
unanimity  on  all  the  great  questions  of  the  day,  and 
our  people  seem  determined  to  hold  the  presidential 
election  strictly  subordinate  to  their  principles.  We 
begin  to  turn  our  attention  to  the  readjustment  of 
the  tariff  under  the  compromise  act. 

My  mind  is  made  up  that  it  ought  not  to  be  de 
layed  beyond  the  next  session,  and  that  we  ought  to 
go  for  a  uniform  ad  val.  duty  on  all  articles,  without 
any  discrimination,  and  such,  I  think,  will  be  the 
unanimous  voice  of  the  State. 

It  is  our  only  safe  position,  and  if  we  can  get  the 
South  to  unite  on  it,  its  success  is  certain. 


72  A   MEMOIR  OF 

It  would  give  us  a  security  that  we  have  never 
heretofore  had  under  the  government.  I  intend  to 
direct  a  good  deal  of  my  attention  to  the  subject  be 
fore  the  meeting  of  Congress,  and  will  probably 
make  an  early  move  on  it.  This,  however,  I  write 
to  you  as  a  friend,  and  for  your  private  ear,  as  it  per 
haps  would  not  be  advisable  that  what  I  contemplate 
should  be  known,  but  I  hope,  if  you  concur  with 
me,  that  you  will  take  such  steps  by  correspondence 
and  otherwise,  as  may  prepare  our  friends  for  the 
movement  in  your  State. 

Do  let  me  hear  from  you  at  your  early  convenience, 
and  favor  me  with  your  views  on  that  and  all  other 
points  that  you  may  deem  worthy  of  attention. 

What  would  be  the  effect  in  Virginia  if  Clay  should 
not  be  nominated  by  the  Whig  Convention? 

With  my  kind  respects  to  Mrs.  H.,  I  am  with  great 
respect,  Yours  truly, 

J.  C.  CALHOUN. 

Hon.  R.  M.  T.  Hunter. 

Among  the  notable  speeches  of  Mr.  Hun 
ter's  long  ante-bellum  political  career  were  the 
following: 

On  the  bill  to  establish  an  independent 
treasury,  delivered  in  the  House  of  Repre 
sentatives,  June  22,  1838;  a  previous  one  in 
the  House,  on  the  bill  imposing  additional  du 
ties  as  depositories,  in  certain  cases,  on  public 
officers.  This  was  delivered  in  October,  1837. 
Speech  on  the  Oregon  Territory  bill,  delivered 


ROBERT  M.  T.    HUNTER  73 

in  the  Senate  of  the  United  States,  July  n, 
1848.  Speech  in  the  United  States  Senate, 
July  18,  1850,  on  the  admission  of  California 
into  the  Union,  the  establishment  of  Terri 
torial  Governments  for  Utah  and  New  Mex 
ico,  and  making  proposals  to  Texas  for  the 
settlement  of  her  northern  and  western  boun 
daries.  Speech  on  the  French  Spoliation  Bill, 
delivered  in  the  United  States  Senate,  Janu 
ary  20,  1851.  Speech  in  the  Senate  of  the  Uni 
ted  States,  February  17,  1852,  on  the  bill 
granting  land  to  the  State  of  Iowa  in  aid  of 
constructing  certain  railroads.  Speech  in  the 
Senate,  May  5,  1852,  against  increasing  the 
appropriation  for  the  Collins  Line  of  steam 
ers.  Speech  on  governmental  expenditures, 
in  reply  to  Hon.  James  A.  Pearce,  of  Mary 
land,  delivered  in  the  United  States  Senate, 
May  31,  1852.  Speech  on  bill  to  amend  the 
acts  to  regulate  the  appraisement  of  imported 
merchandise  in  the  United  States  Senate,  Feb 
ruary  4,  1851.  Address  before  the  Demo 
cratic  Association  of  Richmond,  October  I, 
1852.  Speech  on  a  railroad  to  the  Pacific,  de 
livered  in  the  Senate,  February  19,  1853. 
Speech  in  the  United  States  Senate,  February 
24,  1854,  on  Nebraska  and  Kansas,  and  a  dis 
course  before  the  Virginia  Historical  Society, 


74  A   MEMOIR  OF 

December  14,  1854.  Address  before  a  Demo 
cratic  mass-meeting  at  Poughkeepsie,  Octo 
ber  i,  1856,  on  the  occasion  of  a  Democratic 
demonstration,  which  he  was  invited  to  at 
tend.  His  oration  of  February  22,  1858,  de 
livered  at  Richmond,  Virginia,  when  the 
equestrian  statue  of  Washington  was  inaugu 
rated,  has  been  already  mentioned  in  quoting 
from  Mr.  Micou's  sketch,  and  the  compli 
ments  to  this  and  many  other  speeches  and 
addresses  delivered  at  various  times  by  Mr. 
Hunter  are  too  numerous  to  give  in  a  brief 
memorial  like  this. 

The  future  writer  of  a  more  extended  bi 
ography  may  hereafter  collect  and  publish 
these  notices,  printed  and  private. 

Among  them  is  a  complimentary  letter  from 
Hon.  Chas.  J.  Faulkner,  written  at  the  time  of 
Mr.  Hunter's  Poughkeepsie  speech: 

NATIONAL  DEMOCRATIC  COMMITTEE  ROOMS, 

WASHINGTON,  October  6,   1856. 
Hon.  R.  M.  T.  Hunter: 

Dear  Sir — I  should  do  injustice  to  my  own  feel 
ings  if  I  did  not  avail  myself  of  the  earliest  moment 
to  express  to  you  the  very  high  gratification  which 
I  have  just  derived  from  the  perusal  of  your  able, 
eloquent  and  statesmanlike  speech  at  the  Pough 
keepsie  meeting. 


ROBERT  M.  T.    HUNTER  75 

It  is  the  source  to  me  of  no  little  pride  that  to 
the  National  Democratic  Committee,  over  which  I 
have  the  honor  to  preside,  is  the  country  indebted 
for  the  preliminary  movement,  at  least,  which  led 
to  the  appeal  to  you,  and  which  has  resulted  in  this 
noble  vindication  of  the  endangered  interests  of  the 
Union.  I  am  free  to  confess  that  for  some  years 
past  there  has  not  existed  upon  my  part  in  refer 
ence  to  yourself  any  very  warm  and  cordial  senti 
ment  of  political  friendship. 

I  need  not  go  into  any  explanation  of  the  cause. 
It  is  true  there  is  no  moment  in  which  I  would 
have  done  you  injustice,  or  by  any  act  of  mine 
have  sought  to  impair  your  just  hold  upon  the 
confidence  of  your  State  and  country. 

But  the  closing  months  of  the  last  session  of 
Congress  have  produced  in  me  feelings  of  a  very 
different  character,  which  I  have  freely  from  time 
to  time  communicated  to  our  mutual  friend,  Mr. 
Bocock.  And  I  avail  myself  therefore  of  this 
occasion  to  say  that  your  eminent  qualities  as  a 
statesman  ever  faithful  to  your  trust  and  devoted 
to  the  best  interests  of  your  country  will  cause  me 
to  look  with  unmingled  satisfaction  upon  your  fu 
ture  advancement  to  any  position  of  honor  or  public 
service  to  which  the  admiration  and  gratitude  of 
your  fellow  citizens  may  elevate  you. 
I  am  truly  yours, 

CHARLES  JAMES  FAULKNER. 

It  would  not  be  too  much  to  say  that  Mr. 
Hunter  possessed  the  esteem  and  confidence 
of  all  who  knew  him,  even  when,  as  in  Mr. 


76  A  MEMOIR  OF 

Faulkner's  case,  they  were  not  in  full  politi 
cal  accord  with  him.  He  was  always  consid 
ered  safe  and  trustworthy,  and  his  counsel  was 
sought  and  valued.  In  proof  of  this  assertion 
we  will  give  later  on  some  of  his  letters  from 
public  men. 


CHAPTER  VI. 

PRIVATE  LIFE  AND  LETTERS. 

While  actively  engaged  in  politics,  Mr. 
Hunter's  large  and  growing  family  involved 
him  in  many  expenses  besides  those  incidental 
to  public  life,  and  even  at  the  beginning  of 
the  Civil  War  his  financial  difficulties  were 
very  serious. 

His  letters,  written  and  received,  show  rap 
idly  increasing  pecuniary  embarrassment,  and 
his  friends  would  often  jestingly  tell  him  that 
the  financial  abilities  so  successfully  exerted 
in  public  interests  were  sadly  needed  at  home. 

Naturally  sanguine,  and  by  temperament  op 
posed  to  economic  details,  Mr.  Hunter  was 
too  prone  to  engage  in  speculative  enterprises, 
and  would  lavish  any  funds  at  his  disposal  on 
his  mill,  a  favorite  hobby  with  him. 

Hospitable  almost  to  excess,  and  encour 
aged  in  this  'by  his  genial  and  generous- 
hearted  wife,  they  kept  open  house  as  long  as 
circumstances  rendered  it  possible,  and  so 
paramount  was  the  duty  of  hospitality  consid 
ered  in  the  Fonthill  household,  that  no  mem 
ber  of  the  family  expressed  open  dissent  or 
opposition  to  its  freest  exercise.  It  would  be 

77 


78  A  MEMOIR  OF 

a  mistake  to  suppose  that  Mr.  Hunter  was 
solely  devoted  to  political  pursuits  and  inter 
ests  to  the  exclusion  of  domestic  affections. 

Grave  and  reserved  in  temperament,  with  a 
soul  attuned  to  high  thoughts  and  aspirations, 
he  was  neither  addicted  nor  adapted  to  "  light 
chat "  or  gossiping  intercourse,  'but  his  affec 
tions  were  strong  and  tenacious.  Several  fam 
ily  and  friendly  letters  are  given  in  these  pages 
with  a  view  to  showing  the  deep  affection, 
apart  from  admiration,  which  many  of  his 
friends  and  kindred  felt  for  the  Virginia  states 
man  throughout  his  career. 

His  nature  was  single  and  truthful,  not  in 
clined  to  doubt  or  suspicion,  and  his  regard 
and  friendship,  once  given,  were  not  easily 
or  lightly  withdrawn. 

His  disposition  was  gentle,  his  judgment 
cool  and  reliable,  and  his  power  of  self-control 
remarkable  until  late  in  life,  when  trouble  and 
disease  affected  a  temper  naturally  calm  and 
equable,  and  rendered  him  more  irritable. 

His  usual  manner  was  quietly  courteous 
and  rarely  excited,  but  a  political  friend  told 
the  writer  that  when  speaking,  after  the  first 
introductory  remarks,  his  eyes  sparkled  and 
his  voice  deepened  in  violence  and  compass, 
while  the  animation  produced  by  his  interest 


ROBERT  M.  T.    HUNTER  79 

in  his  subject  imparted  a  charm  to  his  whole 
manner  and  bearing.  He  was  considered  an 
exceptionally  good  electioneerer  in  earlier  life, 
and  always  took  a  marked  interest  in  young 
men,  evincing  an  unfailing  anxiety  to  assist 
them  in  their  chosen  career.  This  feeling  of 
interest  and  sympathy  with  the  young  and  am 
bitious  was  deepened  and  intensified  in  the 
case  of  his  nephew,  Muscoe  R.  H.  Garnett, 
to  whom  his  attachment  was  constant,  and 
proved  by  every  means  in  his  power. 

The  two  letters  subjoined  speak  for  them 
selves: 

[UNDATED.] 
My  Dear  Sister: 

I  have  just  read  your  letter  to  Line,  and  hot  as  it 
is,  I  will  write  tonight,  whilst  things  are  fresh  in 
my  mind.  I  am  very  much  concerned  to  find  you 
writing  in  so  gloomy  a  strain.  Rely  upon  it,  and  I 
am  speaking  from  much  experience,  that  the  human 
mind  soon  borrows  its  complexion  from  what  it 
feeds  upon.  These  gloomy  reflections  are  good 
neither  for  the  soul  nor  body.  It  is  the  fault  of  us 
both  that  we  are  too  apt  to  take  up  disgusts  at  the 
necessary  incidents  and  occurrences  of  human  life 
and  try  to  persuade  ourselves  that  there  is  nothing 
worth  striving  for  in  order  to  excuse  our  listlessness 
and  apathy.  This  very  disposition  has  spoiled  me, 
and  I  am  ashamed  of  it  now  that  some  of  my  best 
years  have  been  wasted  in  the  indulgence  of  my 


80  A   MEMOIR  OF 

morbid  appetite  for  sad  thoughts  and  in  the  culti 
vation  of  a  thousand  fastidious  scruples  that  almost 
unfit  us  for  any  useful  purpose  in  life. 

Listen  to  me,  for  I  am  speaking  as  truly  on  this 
subject  as  if  I  were  inspired.  Why  should  you  be 
looking  out  for  green  spots  as  a  resting  place  when 
the  body  can  no  longer  be  useful  to  the  soul,  and 
when  there  are  so  many  barren  spots  that  might  be 
made  green?  This  disposition  reacts  upon  your 
son  and  will  destroy  that  elasticity  of  spirit  so  neces 
sary  to  give  vigor  and  energy  to  youth. 

The  world — the  teeming  world — is  before  him, 
and  you  too,  old  as  you  may  think  yourself.  A 
thousand  useful  pursuits  are  open  to  you  both,  and 
whatever  employment  is  useful  will  turn  out  to  be 
agreeable.  You  ought  to  give  him  the  spur  of  hope 
and  encourage  cheerfulness  of  spirits. 

How  can  he  have  these  if,  in  his  constant  associa 
tion  with  you,  he  sees  you  gloomy  and  depressed? 

The  solitary  life  which  he  leads  and  the  scenes 
through  which  he  has  lately  passed  have  been  un 
favorable  to  his  spirits,  and  in  that  respect  they  are 
likely  to  impair  his  energy  of  character.  It  was 
partly  for  this  reason  that  I  wished  him  to  stay 
longer  at  this  place.  I  wanted  him  to  see  the  bustle 
and  stir  of  life,  to  catch  the  spirit  of  enterprise  and 
of  youthful  hope,  which  will  be  necessary  to  bear 
him  successfully  through  life. 

Colonel  Pickens  wished  me  to  carry  him  down  to 
see  Mr.  Calhoun,  and  I  regret  that  he  did  not  re 
main  longer  so  that  I  might  have  done  it.  I  was 
glad,  however,  that  he  went  down  so  soon  when  I 
found  out  how  much  you  were  disturbed  at  his 


ROBERT   M.   T.    HUNTER  8l 

absence,  but  this  is  a  womanly  weakness,  and  you 
must  get  over  it. 

Not  upon  the  idea  of  doing  penance  and  of  wean 
ing  yourself  from  an  idol.  This  mode  of  viewing 
our  duties  as  sacrifices  will  never  do.  It  is  incom 
patible  with  the  love  and  reverence  which  we  should 
feel  to  Him  who  prescribed  these  duties. 

Neither  do  I  object  to  a  little  wholesome  medita 
tion  now  and  then  upon  "the  shadows  we  are  and 
the  shadows  we  pursue."  I  have  much  sympathy, 
too,  for  the  Jacques  view  of  moralizing  occasion 
ally.  But  Mirza,  I  think,  reserved  only  one  day  in 
the  year  for  the  first  occupation,  and  I  cannot  con 
sent  that  you  should  bury  yourself  in  the  stable 
woods,  in  imitation  of  the  latter  (Jacques). 

I  am  content  that  once  even  in  a  month  you 
should  perform  your  ablutions  earlier  in  the  morn 
ing,  and  see  during  that  day  all  the  visions  of  Mirza, 
if  you  will;  but  when  that  day  is  over  return  to 
some  useful  and  refreshing  employment. 

The  garden  and  yard  will  give  you  exercise,  and 
how  many  delightful  pursuits  invite  you  to  mental 
occupation.  Drink  little  tea,  read  no  more  novels, 
and  betake  yourself  to  some  course  of  study  which 
will  give  you  regular  and  serious  occupation  for  a 
portion  of  your  leisure  hours. 

Do  not  laugh  at  this.  You  will  find  pleasure  and 
health  both  to  soul  and  body  in  some  course  of 
study  (provided  it  be  not  a  course  of  Calvinistic 
divinity,  but  one  which  will  task  your  mental  ener 
gies  and  employ  your  reason  more  and  your  imag 
ination  less).  Above  all  things,  do  not  torment 


82  A   MEMOIR  OF 

yourself  by  imagining  future  ills  and  by  expecting 
all  the  possible  mishaps  which  may  befall  Muscoe 
and  yourself. 

"'Take  no  thought  for  the  morrow"  is  a  maxim 
which  the  Christian  ought  to  understand.  Discharge 
your  duties  today  and  put  your  faith  in  God  to  rule 
your  future  destiny  and  the  events  of  tomorrow 
more  wisely  and  happily  than  you  could  yourself  if 
they  were  under  your  own  control. 

When  you  send  your  son  into  the  world  you  must 
expect  that  he  will  meet  with  his  share  of  mishaps — 
nay,  it  is  best  that  he  should  have  his  trials,  and  you 
must  suppose  that  he  will  have  his  portion.  There 
is  also  another  matter  which  I  wish  you  could  com 
prehend,  but  few  women  can. 

It  is  this:  He  will  undoubtedly  err  sometimes, 
and  while  at  all  times  you  ought  to  inculcate  the 
right,  yet  there  are  occasions  when  it  is  wise  to  seem 
blind,  because  in  some  matters  interposition  from 
another  wounds  more  than  it  corrects. 

There  are  some  minds  to  which  it  is  enough  to 
expose  the  fault — the  more  gently  the  better — and 
trust  to  their  natural  good  sense  and  sound  princi 
ples  to  correct  it. 

Muscoe's  is  one  of  these.  Of  course,  I  cannot 
specify  all  the  errors  to  which  I  would  have  you 
seem  blind,  but  I  will  illustrate  my  meaning  a  little. 
Muscoe  did  right  to  stay  a  day  longer.  I  gave  the 
advice  and  took  the  responsibility. 

But  suppose  that  he  had  been  here  alone  and  had 
thought  it  best  to  stay  a  single  day  beyond  his  time 
upon  his  own  responsibility.  You  ought  then  to 
have  considered  first  whether  the  inducement  was 


ROBERT   M.   T.    HUNTER  83 

such  as  to  have  warranted  him  in  disappointing 
you;  and,  if  so,  you  should  have  been  entirely  silent. 
If,  on  the  other  hand,  you  thought  it  not  enough,  it 
would  have  been  quite  sufficient  to  have  expressed 
to  him  your  disappointment  at  not  seeing  him  by 
the  appointed  time. 

He  will  naturally  strive  to  take  the  man  more 
upon  himself  as  he  advances  in  years,  and  my  fear 
is  that  you  will  check  this  disposition  too  much. 

You  must  now  rule  him  by  love  and  be  reasonable 
in  your  requirements  of  him  if  you  wish  to  give  a 
manly  tone  to  his  character.  You  have  instilled 
good  principles  into  him;  continue  to  inculcate  them 
with  a  mother's  gentleness  and  love,  and  trust  the 
rest  to  God,  not  with  a  faint  and  doubtful  heart,  but 
with  your  whole  soul. 

Do  this,  my  dear  sister,  and  God  will  regard  your 
prayers  and  your  pains.  He  is  a  noble  boy;  let  him 
go  to  college  alone  and  take  his  chances  like  other 
boys. 

He  will  meet  with  no  trials  beyond  his  strength. 

Impress  upon  him  the  fixed  belief  that  your  first 
wish  is  to  see  him  return  with  the  virtues,  the 
manly  qualities  and  the  gentlemanly  accomplish 
ments  which  are  man's  best  endowments.  When 
he  leaves  you  make  him  promise  two  things:  First, 
to  read  a  chapter  in  the  Bible  every  day,  either  in 
the  morning  or  at  night;  and,  secondly,  whenever  he 
finds  himself  about  to  act,  out  of  mere  regard  for 
public  opinion  (which  sometimes  it  is  right  to  do), 
to  ask  himself  before  he  acts  what  you  would  think 
of  the  matter  if  you  knew  it. 


84  A  MEMOIR  OF 

These  rules  may  seem  to  him  to  be  small  matters, 
but  he  will  find  both  practices  useful  when  he  goes 
to  college. 

If  you  take  my  advice  in  this,  I  think  you  will 
never  regret  it.  When  the  human  mind  reaches  a 
certain  stage  it  must  be  left  free  to  act  for  the  most 
part  upon  its  own  principles  and  not  upon  those  of 
others,  or  else  it  will  take  a  retrograde  movement. 
I  know  of  no  situation  in  which  the  experiment  of 
free  agency  can  be  so  safely  made  as  in  the  employ 
ments  and  under  the  restraints  of  college  life. 

If  you  could  control  him  entirely  for  the  three 
years  which  he  may  spend  at  college,  he  would 
enter  the  world  as  raw  and  inexperienced,  to  all 
practical  purposes,  as  he  is  now.  And  he  would 
then  encounter  ten  times  as  many  difficulties  and 
temptations  as  he  could  be  exposed  to  at  college. 

I  fear  that  this  will  be  unpalatable  to  you,  but  I 
ought  to  speak  candidly  to  you. 

Muscoe  is  almost  as  much  to  me  as  he  is  to  you, 
and  I  wish  him  to  make  his  first  essay  in  life  under 
what  I  believe  to  be  the  best  circumstances.  I 
regret  to  hear  that  you  have  been  indisposed,  but  I 
have  no  doubt  that  an  ounce  or  two  of  cheerfulness 
would  do  you  more  good  than  all  the  physic  in  the 
apothecary's  shop.  And  why  should  you  not  ad 
minister  this  to  yourself?  Think  of  your  son  and 
the  bright  prospects  which  are  before  him.  Imagine 
yourself  in  the  Senate  gallery  whilst  he  stands  forth 
the  proudest  and  the  strongest  champion  upon  some 
great  question  which  divides  the  public  of  his  day; 
or  follow  him,  if  you  prefer  it,  to  the  bar  of  the 


ROBERT  M.  T.    HUNTER  85 

Supreme  Court,  and  watch  the  approving  counte 
nances  of  the  judges  as  they  mark  his  skill  in  thread 
ing  the  mazy  labyrinths  of  the  law. 

I  do  not  know  when  I  shall  see  old  Essex  again. 
My  heart,  however,  is  with  you,  and  I  am  anxious 
to  get  away. 

Give  my  love  to  all,  and  may  God  bless  you. 
Yrs.  affect'ly, 

R.  M.  T.  HUNTER. 

Line  does  not  know  that  I  am  writing.  She  is 
quite  well  and  will  advise  you  herself  when  she  will 
return. 

I  am  not  sure  that  I  shall  not  write  you  a  quire 
tomorrow.  This  is  by  far  the  wisest  letter  I  ever 
wrote  in  my  life. 

The  next  letter  was  written  to  his  nephew, 
M.  R.  H.  Garnett,  while  at  college,  and  shows 
the  affectionate  and  paternal  interest  felt  by 
Mr.  Hunter  for  this  favorite  relative. 

It  is  undated,  but  was  probably  written  in 
1840  or  1841  : 
Dear  Muscoe: 

I  was  selfish  enough  to  have  been  a  great  deal 
concerned  at  missing  you  upon  my  return;  but  it 
was  doubtless  better  that  you  should  have  gone 
when  you  did,  as  your  class  was  in  advance  of  you. 
I  hope  you  are  pleasantly  situated  and  that  your 
studies  are  agreeable  to  you. 

There  is  nothing  like  entering  into  a  profession 
"con  amore"  A  mere  sense  of  duty  may  make  us 
labor  enough  to  do  pretty  well,  but  there  must  be  a 
certain  degree  of  real  interest  in  every  pursuit  to 
lead  to  eminence. 


86  A  MEMOIR  OF 

The  law,  I  think,  is  generally  undervalued  by 
students  at  the  commencement — I  mean  by  those 
of  liberal  attainments  and  enlarged  views,  who,  like 
Blackstone,  are  loath  to  bid  farewell  to  their  muse. 
Not  that  this  parting  is  absolutely  necessary,  for, 
although  the  law  is  reputed  to  be  "a  jealous  mis 
tress,"  yet  I  think  that  a  lawyer  in  this  country  is 
by  no  means  required,  or  even  justified,  in  giving 
up  general  literature.  Like  the  Roman  Advocate, 
he  may  have  leisure  for  other  things.  For  we  have 
disused  so  much  of  the  technicality  of  the  English 
pleadings  and  have  pruned  away  so  many  of  their 
refinements  that  the  science  in  this  country  may  be 
said  to  rest  (as  I  think)  more  upon  general  prin 
ciples  than  it  did  or  now  does  in  England.  It  will, 
I  think,  be  one  of  your  pleasures,  as  you  progress 
in  the  study,  to  find  these  principles  of  natural 
justice  and  law  of  more  general  application  than 
perhaps  you  now  suppose  them. 

By  the  way,  I  was  glad  to  hear  that  you  designed 
to  commence,  or  continue  (which  is  it?),  the  study 
of  Anglo-Saxon. 

I  very  much  regret  that  I  did  not  study  both  that 
and  the  German  when  I  had  leisure  for  such  things. 
The  first  I  believe  to  be  very  essential  to  an  accurate 
English  style. 

Your  style  may  be  beautiful  and  polished  without 
it — for  such  instances  we  have — and  a  knowledge 
of  the  true  force  of  words,  so  essential  to  accuracy, 
may  be  acquired  perhaps  by  other  means,  but  cer 
tainly  this  study  must  conduce  to  that  knowledge 
in  a  very  great  degree.  I  suppose,  of  course,  you 
will  combine  historical  reading  as  far  as  practicable 


ROBERT   M.   T.    HUNTER  87 

with  your  legal  studies.  I  do  not  know  the  book, 
but  from  what  I  have  heard  of  it  I  should  think  that 
Henry's  History  of  England,  particularly  the  reigns 
of  the  Edwards,  indeed  as  far  down  as  Henry  the 
Eighth,  would  be  useful  and  perhaps  agreeable. 

But  you  will  be  better  able  to  judge  of  it  when 
you  turn  over  some  of  the  chapters.  If  you  have 
leisure,  you  ought  to  read  "Thierry's  History  of  the 
Norman  Conquest,"  and  you  must  make  leisure  to 
read  "Vertot's  Roman  Revolutions." 

This  last  I  have  not  read;  but  lately,  although  not 
a  new  book,  I  hear  it  much  and  well  spoken  of.  I 
mean  to  read  it  myself  if  I  have  leisure,  but  domes 
tic  pursuits  and  public  disquietudes  divert  my  atten 
tion  much  from  matters  which  are  more  agreeable. 
My  political  enemies  are,  I  believe,  exceedingly 
bitter  and  will  annoy  me  as  much  as  they  can.  It  is 
a  poor  life,  after  all,  which  renders  us  dependent 
upon  others  for  positions  and  respectability  in  so 
ciety,  especially  when  the  tests  by  which  you  are  to 
be  tried  are  constantly  changing,  but  "Revenons." 

We  are  all  quite  well  here,  and  the  sick  are  recov 
ering  at  Elmwood.  These  included  Theodore  and 
his  wife. 

I  was  concerned  to  hear  that  Gallatin's  pamphlet 
had  shaken  your  faith.  You  could  not  have  read 
it  attentively.  I  think  the  reasoning  of  both  his 
pamphlets  tends  to  the  conclusion  that  specie  cur 
rency  is  the  best.  He  acknowledges  changes  in 
this  which  are  great  indeed  in  a  bank  man.  He 
gives  up  the  idea  of  a  national  bank  as  a  regulator 
of  currency  and  exchanges  and  goes  for  it  only  as  a 
"fiscal  agent."  And  although  he  is  for  State  banks, 


88  A   MEMOIR  OF 

yet  he  reasons  very  like  one  who  thought  that  they 
should  be  restricted  to  discount  and  deposit.  But, 
after  all,  it  is  a  great  and  perplexing  subject — one 
upon  which  it  is  time  enough  for  you  to  form  your 
opinions,  and  one  which  you  ought  to  study  atten 
tively  at  your  leisure.  God  bless  you,  my  dear 
nephew,  and  believe  me,  Yours  affectionately, 

R.  M.  T.  HUNTER. 

All  here  send  their  love,  and  Bob  has  written  you 
several  letters  in  a  character  which  Champollion 
himself  could  not  decipher.  He  says  it  means  that 
"dear  uncle  must  come  home  to  see  little  Bob." 

The  subject  of  this  postscript  was  Mr.  Hun 
ter's  first-born  child  and  namesake,  a  boy  of 
many  hopes  and  much  early  promise.  He 
developed  into  a  youth  who  combined  much 
of  his  father's  ability,  with  the  aesthetic  tastes 
and  bright  graciousness  of  his  mother,  but  the 
brilliant  promise  of  his  career,  was  cut  short 
by  rapid  consumption,  which  carried  him  off 
at  the  early  age  of  twenty-two  years. 

The  fondest  hopes  and  ambition  of  his 
father  and  whole  family  were  centered  in  him, 
and  his  premature  death  not  only  clouded  the 
brightness  of  a  singularly  happy  home  circle, 
but  seemed  to  foreshadow  the  decline  of  the 
family  fortunes.  Mr.  Hunter  never  complete 
ly  rallied  from  the  blow,  and  said  that  his  am 
bition  perished  with  his  son.  In  a  nature  like 


ROBERT   M.   T.    HUNTER  89 

his,  this  could  not  be  literally  true  while  he  re 
tained  his  own  faculties,  but  it  showed  the 
depth  of  his  grief  and  the  bitterness  of  disap 
pointed  hope. 

The  University  friends  of  young  R.  M.  T. 
Hunter  were  among  the  most  promising  of 
Virginia  youth,  and  the  bereaved  mother 
treasured  for  the  rest  of  her  life  the  touching 
tributes  to  the  early  dead  written  by  friends 
and  classmates,  some  of  whom  are  now  prom 
inent  men,  among  them  Colonel  Archer  An 
derson  of  Richmond,  Virginia;  Professor 
James  M.  Garnett,  late  of  the  University  of 
Virginia,  now  living  in  Baltimore,  Md.;  Pro 
fessor  Thomas  R.  Price  of  Columbia  College, 
New  York,  and  others.  Young  A.  S.  Pendle- 
ton,  the  gifted  son  of  General  W.  N.  Pendle- 
ton,  and  who  afterwards  fell  in  1864  in  the 
Valley  of  Virginia,  wrote,  as  he  said,  "  from 
a  community  of  grief,"  and  his  beautiful  letter 
seemed  dictated  by  almost  fraternal  pride  and 
affection. 

But  we  anticipate  in  here  recording  this  sad 
event,  for  before  his  life  was  thus  overshad 
owed,  Mr.  Hunter  enjoyed  a  long  period  of 
prosperity  and  success  in  public  life  and  pri 
vate. 


9O  A   MEMOIR  OF 

Before  giving  a  number  of  letters  written  to 
his  wife,  while  his  hopes  and  ambition  were 
comparatively  unchecked,  we  will  here  insert 
one  from  his  devoted  aunt,  of  whose  wise 
counsels  he  was  soon  afterwards  deprived,  for 
she  did  not  live  to  rejoice  in  his  later  suc 
cesses. 

This  letter  was  written  in  January,  1838: 

I  thank  you  sincerely  for  your  kind  letter.  Its 
welcome  was  greatly  enhanced,  as  it  was  unexpected, 
because  Mr.  Garnett  had  just  received  one  of  four 
pages,  and  Line  another  by  the  same  mail,  so  that 
I  ought  not  to  have  calculated  on  hearing.  I  should 
have  written  before  to  you,  but  knowing  that  Line 
was  regular  in  her  communications  and  loves  so 
well  to  break  your  seal  I  determined  to  forego  the 
pleasure  of  writing  to  you,  knowing  that  your 
numerous  correspondents  must  of  necessity  draw 
much  upon  your  time,  and  I  would  rather  hear 
through  another,  if  by  so  doing  you  might  gain 
a  little  leisure,  a  brief  space  to  think  your  own 
thoughts. 

I  know  you  will  always  keep  a  place  in  your  heart 
for  me  and  will  never  think  of  me  but  with  kindest 
affection,  so  do  not  mistake  me  and  think  that  I 
require  any  common  assurances,  such  as  usually 
seem  necessary  to  keep  friendship  alive. 

No,  Bob,  I  have  that  faith,  that  confidence  in 
you,  that  neither  time  nor  circumstances  can  shake. 
Your  letter  gave  me  much  pleasure,  as  you  may 
know,  for  I  put  it  in  my  bag  and  have  read  it  more 
than  twice  or  thrice. 


ROBERT  M.  T.   HUNTER  9! 

It  found  me  at  Elmwood,  where  I  came  to  stay  a 
few  days  with  Fenton,  who  was  quite  sick  and  had 
a  considerable  bleeding  from  the  lungs.  On  the 
same  lovely  Sabbath  morning  you  mention  having 
spent  in  walking  and  thinking  of  home  and  friends 
at  home,  I  was  wandering  about  these  lovely  paths, 
thinking  of  the  past  and  also  the  future.  I  assure 
you  my  thoughts  spoke  awfully  to  me  and  seemed 
to  admonish  me  of  the  frailty  and  shortness  of  Tiy 
tenure.  My  prayer  has  been  fully  granted,  for  when 
you  were  all  young  I  earnestly  implored  of  God  that 
He  would  spare  me  to  watch  over  and  supply  a 
mother's  place  to  her  children:  and  now  I  have  seen 
you  all  attain,  I  may  almost  say,  everything  I 
could  have  expected.  In  this  my  measure  has  been 
full,  and  now  for  all  this  ought  I  not  to  be  thank 
ful,  to  be  cheerfully  resigned  to  whatever  my  lot 
may  be?  I  feel  that  I  am  generally  so,  but  at  times 
the  spirit  is  willing,  but  the  flesh  weak. 

I  will  say  nothing  of  churchgoing,  for  I  feel  that 
the  time  will  come  when  you  will  say  it  is  good  that 
we  should  not  forsake  the  assembling  ourselves 
together.  I  expect  you  have  had  all  the  news  from 
home  and  know  more  perhaps  of  them  than  I  do. 
I  have  been  here  a  week,  and  if  they  do  not  come 
up  tomorrow  I  shall  return  to  them.  I  have  re- 
gretted  very  much  being  absent  these  few  days  from 
Mrs.  Dandridge,  for,  on  a  close  acquaintance,  I 
perceive  she  is  one  whom  we  should  all  like  to 
know  more  of,  and  I  think  I  may  say  without 
reserve  to  you,  she  is  equally  pleased.  No  doubt 
Line  has  written  to  inform  you  that  Charles  has 
written  to  her  brother  Phil  to  come  on  immediately, 


92  A   MEMOIR  OF 

as  there  is  now  a  vacancy  for  him.  Maria  sends 
you  a  great  deal  of  love  and  says  I  must  remind 
you  to  send  the  Nuga  for  Fenton,  if  you  see  an 
opportunity,  to  Fredericksburg.  It  is  a  French 
candy,  and  I  mention  this,  as  it  may  instruct  you 
how  to  come  at  it  I  have  just  concluded  "Snarle- 
yow."  with  a  feeling  of  disgust  for  the  writer  and 
the  revolting  scenes  he  has  had  the  impertinence  to 
force  on  his  readers.  I  have  nothing  new  to  relate 
from  your*  neighborhood.  There  seems  very  little 
of  interest  afloat  above  common  gossip,  which  is 
very  seldom  on  the  side  of  "charity  that  thinketh 
no  evil." 

I  shall  write  to  my  old  friend  Archie  Hunter  and 
assure  him  of  my  existence.  I  ought  long  since  to 
have  done  so.  for  he  has  been  a  good  friend  through 
a  long  life,  and  I  am  ashamed  of  my  neglect. 

Of  I  can  say  nothing  but  that  his  downward 

course  has  surprised,  vexed  and  mortified  me.  I 
think  with  you  that  his  gifts  are  rare,  but  he  wants 
that  feeling  which  can  alone  give  us  high  and  ele 
vated  desires:  he  is  satisfied  to  be  on  an  equality 
with  associates  that  he  must  know  are  not  by  the 
world  considered  as  anything  better  than  the  beast 
that  perishes.  I  wish  he  would  return  and  marry, 
take  to  the  law.  and  be  the  man  he  might.  I  am 
commissioned  to  give  you  a  great  deal  of  love, 
and  particularly  from  poor  Fenton.  They  have  just 
taken  her  out  to  ride,  and  she  charged  me  to  men 
tion  her  name  partictilarly  and  specially. 

Your  ever  fondly  devoted  M.  T.  H. 

The  following  letter  from  Mrs.  Hunter  was 
written  in  the  early  years  of  her  married  life, 


ROBERT  M.  T.    HUNTER  93 

when  she  had  only  two  children,  and  before 
the  cares  of  life  had  settled  down  as  heavily  as 
they  afterwards  did.  No  year  is  given,  but  it 
was  probably  written  in  January,  1842  or  1843. 

My  Beloved  Husband: 

I  have  been  feeling  so  badly  for  the  last  week  that 
I  had  intended  not  to  inflict  a  letter  upon  you.  This 
morning  we  are  but  a  small  band.  Sally,  Sister 
Martha,  Sister,  and  Muscoe  are  at  Elmwood,  and 
Sister  Jane  is  on  the  bed,  not  feeling  very  well. 
Ma  is  watching  by  her,  and  Bob,  Pink  and  I  are 
keeping  house  below  stairs — so  now  you  have  an 
exact  picture  of  us  all.  I  fancy  you  comfortably 
seated  in  the  House,  enjoying  the  society  of  some 
pleasant  companion,  or  reading  in  the  library,  en 
sconced  in  a  quiet  alcove. 

Ma  was  very  glad  to  hear  from  home  through 
your  last  letter.  She  says  I  must  ask  you  what  the 
boys  are  doing  in  Washington  in  these  hard  times, 
and  she  seems  to  think  they  are  getting  on  badly 
without  her. 

It  seems  to  me  that  Jefferson  is  certainly  the  most 
desirable  place  in  the  world  as  a  residence,  much 
more  so  than  your  "Sea-girt  Isle,"  Cherokee  coun 
try,  etc. 

I  feel  some  curiosity  to  know  where  your  last 
castle  is.  Can  Mr.  Lewis  say  nothing  in  favor  of 
Alabama? 

Our  Jefferson  friends,  except  Brother,  seem  to 
be  in  a  comfortable  state  of  uncertainty  as  10  their 
future  prospects,  but  I  hope  they  will  find  they  can 


94  A  MEMOIR  OF 

get  on  as  well  in  Jefferson  as  anywhere  else.  I  in 
cline  to  Brother's  way  of  thinking,  decidedly — that 
it  is  as  much  their  own  fault  as  anything  else.  They 
will  have  to  take  your  plan  of  never  lending  your 
name  before  they  can  prosper  anywhere. 

Where  is  the  farm  that  Dr.  Mallory  recommends 
to  Phil? 

Do  pray  persuade  him  to  stay  where  he  is.  As  to 
Lower  Virginia,  it  may  have  been  something  in 
ages  past,  but  I  think  its  present  system  will  soon 
ruin  any  master  of  a  plantation;  that  is,  provided 
the  master  owns  a  good  many  slaves  and  a  quantity 
of  poor  land.  But  as  we  cannot  agree  on  this  sub 
ject,  I  shall  say  no  more.  It  is  almost  time  for  the 
mail  to  come  in,  and  I  rather  dread  it  lest  I  should 
get  no  letter. 

When  I  fail  to  hear  from  you  it  seems  a  long 
time  to  wait  for  the  next  post.  Bob  seems  deter 
mined  to  write  to  you  by  every  post,  and  I  feel 
sometimes  half  tempted  to  put  him  upon  his  dig 
nity,  but  he  will  be  mean-spirited  in  spite  of  me. 
Do  pray  say  something  about  his  letters  when  you 
write  again.  He  has  been  quite  unwell  for  a  week. 

Sister  Jane  thinks  he  has  had  fever  for  several 
nights,  but  I  don't  know  that  it  amounts  exactly  to 
fever;  he  seems  to  feel  pretty  well  through  the  day, 
and  his  appetite  is  as  usual,  yet  he  is  not  exactly 
himself.  Pink  is  well,  and  as  impudent  as  she  can 
be.  Farewell,  my  beloved  husband;  my  heart  aches 
to  see  you.  Ever  y'rs,  M.  E.  H. 

P.  S. — I  hope  you  will  be  able  to  tell  me  of  many 
sermons  you  have  heard  since  we  parted. 


CHAPTER  VII. 

LETTERS  TO  HIS  WIFE. 

Thursday,  December,  1841. 
My  Dear  Wife: 

I  have  been  so  much  engaged  in  getting  lodgings 
that  I  have  not  had  a  place  or  opportunity  for  writ 
ing  to  you  before.  We  are  at  last  settled  at  Hill's, 
on  Capitol  Hill.  Mr.  Wise,  Dr.  Mallory,  Gilmer, 
Goode  of  Virginia,  Hubbard  of  Virginia,  Mr.  ar.d 
Mrs.  Coles  and  Governor  Pope  and  his  lady.  The 
last  we  found  here  when  we  came,  and  are  quite 
willing  to  have  them  as  messmates.  I  think  our 
messmates  and  quarters  will  both  prove  agreeable. 
Mrs.  Wise  has  not  come  on  yet  and  was  very  ill 
for  many  weeks. 

So  far  from  these  gentlemen  having  quarreled,  as 
the  public  prints  report,  you  perceive  that  they  are 
entirely  harmonious.  It  was  exceedingly  fortunal.^ 
that  Uncle  James  got  me  off  on  Sunday  morning. 
On  Monday  the  South  lost  the  anti-abolition  rule 
by  three  votes,  and  on  Tuesday  regained  it  by  a 
majority  of  two,  so  that  you  see  that  it  is  always 
the  best  for  one  to  keep  exactly  up  to  the  Ime  of 
his  duty. 

As  it  is,  however,  all  is  well.  We  have  savsd  the 
rule.  I  learn  from  what  I  believe  to  be  good 
authority  that  Mallory  is  quite  safe  in  his  district. 

The  report  as  to  Wise's  speech  to  his  constitu 
ents  was  in  many  respects  false.  But  in  the  history 
I  am  giving  you  of  my  "familiars"  you  may  ask, 
"Where  is  County  Guy?" 


96  A  MEMOIR  OF 

Where  is  Mr.  Calhoun?  No  tidings  of  him  yet. 
But  our  friend  Lewis  is  here,  alive  and  looking 
exceedingly  well. 

One  reason  for  my  choosing  my  present  position 
is  that  I  expect  to  be  able  to  make  comfortable 
arrangements  for  you  here  when  you  come  on.  A 
great  many  of  the  members  have  their  wives  with 
them,  your  Cousin  Green  Pendleton  among  the 
number.  I  have  not  yet  seen  John  Kennedy.  I 
asked  one  of  the  Pennsylvania  members  if  he  had 
brought  his  wife,  and  he  replied  that  he  had  left 
her  slaughtering  pork.  How  unsentimental!  He 
meant,  no  doubt,  that  she  was  attending  to  putting 
it  up. 

I  never  commenced  a  session  with  less  spirit  in 
my  life.  I  have  met  with  no  companion  who  is 
half  so  agreeable  as  Bob,  and  I  think  so  much  of 
home  that  public  affairs  have  not  yet  fastened  upon 
my  mind.  Next  week,  however,  we  begin,  and  by 
that  time  I  hope  to  be  fairly  at  work.  Give  my  love 
to  all  at  home,  and  kiss  the  children  for  me.  God 
bless  you,  my  dear  Line.  Yours,  as  ever, 

R.  M.  T.  H. 

The  next  letter  is  written  without  date  or 
caption. 

I  was  greatly  obliged  to  you,  my  dearest  wife,  for 
your  letter,  and  regret  that  my  letters  should  have 
miscarried. 

I  have  generally  written  twice  a  week  since  I 
have  been  here,  and  always  once.  But  the  river  has 
been  closed  with  ice  and  the  mails  are  irregular. 


ROBERT   M.   T.    HUNTER  97 

This  must  account  to  Sister  for  not  getting  an 
answer  to  her  letter,  which  reached  me  but  the  day 
before  yesterday,  and  a  letter  written  tomorrow  will 
get  to  her  as  soon  as  one  sent  yesterday. 

I  was  greatly  concerned  at  your  accident  and  trust 
that  you  will  be  more  prudent  for  the  future. 

I  have  been  kept  anxious  for  a  fortnight  now  by 
the  letters  from  home,  and  even  your  last  was  a 
little  gloomy. 

This  is  not  your  wont,  you  know.  I  trust  in  Him 
who  always  sustains  those  who  do  so,  that  we  shall 
soon  have  a  happy  meeting  and  forget  past  troubles. 

I  am  cultivating  a  cheerful  tone  of  mind  and  hope 
to  take  home  to  you  quite  a  stock  of  good  spirits. 

I  think  that  the  sky  is  clearing  a  little  for  me, 
and  my  trust  in  Providence  deepens  as  I  proceed 
in  life. 

If  I  can  be  useful  in  my  day  and  generation  and 
see  those  around  me  happy  and  cheerful,  oiy  heart 
will  rejoice. 

You  are  wrong  in  supposing  that  I  was  sick.  I 
had  a  cold  which  was  a  little  troublesome,  but  i? 
not  so  now. 

Nor  did  I  lie  by  even  for  an  hour  with  it.  Do 
not  suppose  when  you  fail  to  get  a  letter  that  I  am 
sick,  for  I  should  be  more  certain  to  write  to  you 
when  I  was  sick  than  when  I  was  well.  I  am  glad 
to  hear  that  our  dear  boy  is  at  last  well.  I  know 
that  he  must  be  very  sweet. 

By  the  way,  Mr.  Holmes  was  so  delighted  with  a 
compliment  that  little  Elizabeth  paid  you  that  he 
came  to  repeat  it  to  me.  She  had  bought  a  wax 
doll,  which  she  was  describing  to  him  as  splendid. 


98  A   MEMOIR  OF 

"How  splendid?"  said  he;  "what  is  it  like?" 

"Oh!"  says  she,  "it  is  almost  as.  splendid  as  Mrs. 
Hunter." 

You  see  that  you  have  won  her  admiration  at 
least.  Give  my  love  to  all  and  tell  Sister  Jane  that 
I  shall  soon  write  to  her.  Ever  yours, 

R.  M.  T.  HUNTER. 
My  Dear  Wife: 

I  am  about  to  be  very  busy  again.  A  general 
debate  is  coming  on,  in  which  I  may  have  to  take 
part,  and,  in  addition  to  that,  the  particular  busi 
ness  of  the  Finance  Committee  is  no  light  matter. 
I  therefore  write  today  lest  in  the  multiplicity  of 
engagements  I  might  seem  to  neglect  my  dear  wife, 
which  I  would  not  do  for  a  great  deal. 

I  wish  I  were  well  out  of  the  labors  of  the  next 
week  or  two,  as  I  am  most  anxious  for  an  oppor 
tunity  to  make  a  flying  trip  home.  I  hope,  my  dear 
Line,  that  you  are  using  exercise  and  taking  all  care 
of  yourself.  How  about  the  preparation  of  iron 
and  the  red  blood  which  Spot  says  you  must  make? 
I  hope  you  have  not  neglected  his  injunctions. 

We  are  to  have  an  ascension  of  a  balloon  this 
evening,  which  I  wish  the  children  could  see.  I 
missed  Franconi  entirely.  It  was  either  raining  or 
I  was  busy  while  he  was  here. 

Today  the  Countess  Sartige  has  a  matinee  dansante, 
to  which  I  am  invited,  but  for  many  reasons  I  shall 
not  go. 

I  went  last  evening  to  see  poor  old  Mr.  Ritchie, 
who  is  very  feeble,  and  I  think  not  aware  of  his 
condition. 


ROBERT  M.  T.    HUNTER  99 

He  is  as  much  interested  in  politics  as  ever,  and, 
I  am  told,  says  kind  things  of  me.  The  President 
and  I  went  to  call  on  him,  and  afterward  he  in 
sisted  on  my  going  with  him  to  visit  Mrs.  Wood- 
bury  and  daughters,  which  I  did.  The  old  lady  is 
an  evergreen,  and  one  of  her  daughters  pretty  and 
agreeable.  But  Bev.  says  I  am  an  evergreen,  so  I 
had  better  make  no  criticisms  on  that  subject,  as 
they  are  somewhat  suggestive  of  age. 

After  the  visit  to  the  W.'s  was  over  I  went  around 
to  Aiken's  to  a  party,  but  found  it  consisting  wholly 
of  men.  I  soon  retired  in  disgust,  without  waiting 
for  the  supper,  and  was  in  bed  at  half-past  ten.  To 
day  (Saturday)  I  am  hard  at  work,  and  tomorrow 
I  fear  it  must  be  the  same. 

I  could  undertake  it  all  if  you  were  with  me,  but 
as  it  is  I  feel  that  I  am  wasting  and  throwing  away 
opportunities  of  happiness  in  this  too  long  separa 
tion.  Give  my  love  to  all.  Y'rs  as  ever, 

R.  M.  T.  HUNTER. 

Thursday,  February  n,  1848. 
My  Dear  Line: 

I  have  just  gotten  through  with  the  labor  of  writ 
ing  out  my  speech,  and  whilst  I  am  waiting  for  the 
proofs  I  avail  myself  of  the  opportunity  to  write 
to  you. 

I  hope  the  speech  will  be  out  tomorrow.  In  the 
meantime  I  send  you  a  complimentary  notice  of  it 
in  the  New  York  Herald.  I  saw  Steve  last  night 
He  came  over  from  Baltimore  yesterday  and  re 
turned  to  Jefferson  this  morning. 

He  seemed  very  well  and  in  fine  spirits.  He  says 
everything  is  going  on  very  well  at  the  Bower  and 


100  A  MEMOIR  OF 

seemed  anxious  to  return  to  Serena.  He  says  that 
they  are  about  to  give  the  bridal  party  a  dinner  at 
the  Bower  in  a  few  days,  and  represents  the  young 
couple  as  devoted  to  an  extent  which  he  evidently 
thinks  ridiculous.  What  a  pity  that  a  few  years  of 
matrimony  should  make  sentiment  ridiculous!  I 
daresay  you  and  I  would  laugh  as  much  as  Steve, 
but  the  sentiment  is  not  gone  for  all  that,  either 
with  him  or  with  us. 

Mrs.  Mason  is  in  town,  and  Mason  has  left  us  for 
a  few  days,  to  be  with  her  at  Colonel  Cooper's,  his 
brother-in-law.  She  is  a  charming  woman,  the  very 
model  of  a  matron,  and  sends  the  kindest  messages 
to  you  and  Mrs.  Dandridge.  I  have  been  to  call 

on  Mrs.  .  Jack  told  me  she  was  outrageous  at 

my  neglect,  but  I  think  I  propitiated  her. 

There  is  a  large  mess  there,  who  were  very  much 
amused  at  the  account  which  Judge  Butler  gave 
them  of  a  dinner  that  Mason  and  I  gave  to  Mr. 
Rives  and  Mr.  Lyons. 

On  that  day  we  had  changed  our  cook  to  save 
money,  and  such  a  dinner!  It  became  the  jest  of 
the  town,  and  we  returned  to  Walker  on  the  spot. 
With  the  exception  of  that  day  we  have  lived  re 
markably  well,  but  you  should  have  seen  Mason's 
countenance  as  it  passed  off.  The  dessert  consisted 
of  one  plate  of  hard,  red  apples,  which  Butler  said 
was  the  "lonesomest  dish"  that  ever  he  saw  upon 
the  table.  We  gave  them  another  dinner  and  re 
trieved  the  character  of  our  mess's  cuisine,  but  he 
(Butler)  insists  that  the  first  dinner  was  the  most 


ROBERT   M.   T.    HUNTER  IOI 

pleasant.  Give  my  love  to  all,  and  tell  Bob  1  re 
ceived  his  letter  and  will  write  to  him  soon.  I  was 
much  pleased  with  it.  Y'rs  as  ever, 

R.  M.  T.  HUNTER. 

P.  S. — Your  Cousin  Mary  was  highly  delighted 
with  Bob's  poetry. 

[No  DATE.] 
My  Dear  Wife: 

I  wish  very  much  that  I  could  see  some  time 
ahead  of  me  when  I  could  promise  myself  a  visit 
home. 

I  do  not  like  to  hear  of  your  headaches  and  all 
the  work  of  which  you  write.  Do  hire  somebody 
to  assist  you.  We  are  quite  in  a  stir  today  at  our 
mess.  Mason  has  undertaken  to  give  a  "lunch"  at 
our  house  to  Lord  Elgin  and  suite,  the  English  and 
French  Ministers  and  the  Cabinet.  I  rather  think 
it  will  not  go  off  very  well,  but  I  do  not  care  much 
about  it.  I  will  help  him  out  as  well  as  I  can. 

I  saw  Lord  Elgin  the  other  evening  at  Cramp- 
ton's,  with  his  sash  and  star.  I  thought  it  looked 
rather  ridiculous;  but  they  say  he  is  a  sensible,  un 
ostentatious  man.  It  was  the  Queen's  birthnight, 
so  I  suppose  he  was  bound  to  appear  in  this  dress. 
There  is  a  Sir  Charles  Gray  here,  formerly  Gov 
ernor  of  Jamaica,  said  also  to  be  a  clever  man,  but 
the  most  complete  personification  of  the  "Jack  of 
Clubs"  you  ever  saw.  From  our  "lunch"  we  go  to 
Sartige's  to  a  matinee  dansante,  and  thence  to  Sena 
tor  Fish's  to  dine  with  my  lord,  so  that  we  have  the 
prospect  of  much  dissipation  ahead  of  us. 

I  would  much  rather  be  at  home  today,  and  you 
do  not  know  how  much  I  want  to  see  you  all. 


I£>2  A  MEMOIR  OF 

f        -•     i  a 

What  you  say  of  Bob  makes  me  feel  quite  old.  A 
young  man  on  our  hands  is  calculated  to  make  us 
look  over  our  years.  I  hope  that  he  will  fit  himself 
to  discharge  the  duties  of  manhood  by  the  time  that 
he  reaches  it.  Give  my  love  to  all,  and  believe  me, 
Yours  as  ever,  R.  M.  T.  HUNTER. 

February  17,  1848. 
My  Dear  Line: 

I  received  your  letter  and  was  gratified  to  learn 
that  Muscoe  was  coming  up. 

I  regret  that  the  arrangement  you  propose  cannot 
be  made.  My  room  is  about  12x14,  and  no  room 
for  another  bed.  Neither  is  there  another  spare 
room  in  the  house. 

I  will  try,  however,  to  see  if  a  room  can  be 
obtained  near  us,  so  that  Muscoe  can  mess  with  us. 
I  have  lost  your  proposed  plan  for  the  addition. 
When  Muscoe  comes  I  will  get  him  to  explain  it, 
but  I  suspect  my  plan  is  best. 

If  you  have  much  preference  for  the  other  plan, 
see  what  difference  it  would  make  in  the  cost,  and 
let  me  know;  but  I  cannot  pay  much  in  addition  to 
what  I  have  proposed,  as  "the  beautiful  ponies" 
cost  money.  I  hope  they  are  quite  gentle  by  this 
time.  How  do  they  come  on?  I  feel  very  lone 
some  without  you  here  and  am  determined  to  ar 
range  it  better  next  session.  I  go  out  very  little, 
and  my  room  is  so  uncomfortable  with  its  stove 
that  I  do  not  spend  much  time  in  it.  I  do  most  of 
my  work  in  a  committee  room  in  the  Capitol,  where 
I  now  am. 

I  hope  you  received  my  speech.  I  sent  Sister 
Martha  the  German  paper;  tell  her  the  German 


ROBERT   M.   T.    HUNTER  IO3 

stood  me  in  good  stead  in  preparing  material  for 

my  speech,  as  the  best  authority  in  Mexico  is *, 

a  book  not  yet  translated. 

Mr.  Dix,  the  Senator  from  New  York,  told  me 
that  he  was  going  to  send  copies  of  my  speech  to 
Mr.  Cobden,  and  to  others  in  Europe.  Do  not  tell 
this  out  of  the  family,  as  it  might  seem  vain.  Give 
my  love  to  all,  and  tell  Mrs.  Dandridge  that  I  am 
hoping  to  hear  she  is  quite  happy  at  all  the  good 
news  I  wrote  last  week.  Do  not  let  Jimmy  and 
Sarah  forget  me. 

Bob  and  Pink,  I  know,  will  remember  me. 

Yours  as  ever,  R.  M.  T.  HUNTER. 

My  Dear  Line: 

I  was  glad  to  hear  that  James  was  better,  but  I 
could  wish  that  he  recovered  faster;  although  it 
was  to  be  expected  that  he  would  have  some  return 
of  fever. 

I  wish  I  were  with  you.  Even  my  last  visit  has 
drawn  me  more  closely  to  you,  if  that  were  possible. 
Although  painful  in  many  respects,  some  of  its 
recollections  are  very  dear  to  me. 

We  are  all  in  excitement  and  turmoil  here.  I 
should  not  have  said  we,  for  I  do  not  share  in 
much  of  it. 

Tomorrow  the  Baltimore  Convention  meets,  and 
I  shall  go  over  for  a  day  as  a  spectator.  The  result 
is  quite  uncertain.  Tell  Muscoe  I  will  write  to  him 
as  soon  as  it  is  over,  and  that  he  must  not  be  aston 
ished  at  any  result.  Tell  Sister  that  the  second  part 

of  is  not  out  yet.     I  will  get  the  last  number 

of  "Dombey"  when  I  return,  and  send  it  to  her. 

1Name  illegible. 


104  A  MEMOIR  OF 

I  would  much  rather  be  with  you  than  here  dur 
ing  the  present  week,  but  it  will  not  do  to  leave. 
My  best  love  to  all.  Tell  Mrs.  Dandridge  that  Mr. 
J.,  of  Baltimore,  told  me  he  saw  Phil  Dandridge  the 
other  day,  and  that  he  was  looking  remarkably  well. 
Yours  as  ever,  R.  M.  T.  HUNTER. 

July  5,  1850. 
My  Dear  Wife: 

This  is  Sunday  morning  and  I  am  getting  up  my 
correspondence,  which  I  hope  to  do  in  time  for 
church. 

That  is  to  say,  should  there  be  preaching  in  the 
Capitol.  Our  chaplain,  Mr.  Butler,  they  say  is  a 
fine  preacher,  and  if  so  I  shall  endeavor  to  attend 
punctually  after  he  commences  preaching.  I  have 
just  returned  from  a  visit  to  Mr.  Calhoun,  who  has 
been  quite  ill  with  pneumonia.  He  is  much  better 
this  morning,  I  rejoice  to  say,  for  we  could  have 
illy  spared  him  at  this  time.  They  say  he  is  now 
out  of  danger. 

By  the  way,  we  had  an  adventure  yesterday  which 
would  have  amused  you.  Signora  and  Signorita 
Rosas,  wife  and  daughter  of  the  Mexican  Minister, 
left  their  cards  for  our  mess  in  person,  whereupon 
we  procured  Mr.  John  Mason,  who  talks  Spanish, 
and  went  over  en  masse  to  see  them.  The  signorita 
talks  a  little  broken  English,  but  not  enough  to 
make  conversation  practicable.  It  is  the  first  time 
I  ever  saw  James  Mason  confused.  The  judge  said 
he  was  "pompous  silence"  personified. 

These  ladies  must  be  more  than  half  Indian,  but 
their  manners  were  pleasant,  modest  and  easy.  Next 
Thursday  I  shall  call  on  Lady  Bulwer.  Write  me, 


ROBERT  M.  T.    HUNTER  IO5 

my  dear  Line,  how  things  are  going  on  at  home. 
Give  my  best  love  to  all  and  kiss  the  children  for 
me.  Yours  as  ever, 

R.  M.  T.  HUNTER. 

In  May,  1852,  he  writes: 
My  Dearest  Wife: 

I  wish  very  much  that  I  could  get  off  for  a  day  or 
two,  but  the  Deficiency  Bill  hangs  on,  and  I  find 
little  time  for  anything  but  my  official  duties.  I 
think  my  labors  have  not  been  useless,  and  although 
greater  than  I  like,  yet  I  wish  to  hold  on  through 
the  session.  Do  not  suppose,  however,  that  any 
thing  can  wean  me  from  my  wife  and  family. 

I  have  been  struck,  as  you  were,  with  Mr.  Clay's 
seeming  preference  for  dying  here.  Judge  Butler 
has  returned,  and  we  have  determined  to  move  out 
to  the  suburbs  of  the  town,  to  Mr.  [name  illegible], 
which  is  almost  in  the  country. 

So  far  there  is  much  difficulty  in  the  kitchen 
cabinet.  Our  cook  and  chambermaid  refuse  to 
forego  the  attractions  of  city  life,  but  Isaac  carries 
things  with  a  high  hand,  and  as  he  is  intent  upon 
the  removal,  I  think  we  shall  accomplish  it.  The 
quarters  are  said  to  be  delightful,  and  we  shall  be 
quite  alone. 

[No  date.] 
My  Dearest  Line: 

I  received  your  letter  today  and  hope  you  may  have 
a  pleasant  trip  to  Richmond.  It  is  the  first  attempt 
you  have  ever  made  to  be  cunning,  and  you  succeed 
very  poorly. 


IO6  A   MEMOIR  OF 

To  induce  me  to  refuse  a  place  in  the  Cabinet, 
you  tell  me  of  the  Richmond  Whig,  and  its  being 
down  on  me. 

You  thought  this  was  a  capital  hit.  I  have  not 
seen  the  pieces,  but  I  am  told  the  Whig  is  quite 
complimentary  and  evidently  desires  that  I  should 
go  in.  But  I  do  not  waver  in  my  determination. 
You  have  seen,  of  course,  the  dreadful  calamity 
which  has  befallen  Pierce.  I  could  not  write  when 
such  a  wound  was  fresh  in  his  heart.  Poor  Mr. 
Lawrence,  too,  died  a  day  or  two  after  I  left  Boston 
I  found  a  kind  note  from  Winthrop  upon  my  return, 
regretting  that  he  did  not  know  I  was  in  Boston 
until  the  day  I  left.  He  said  he  called  to  invite  me 
to  spend  the  evening  with  Thackeray,  but  I  was 
gone.  Muscoe  is  in  good  spirits.  He  hears  good 
news  for  his  political  prospects,  and  I  suppose  he 
has  written  his  mother  as  to  what  he  has  learned. 
Give  my  love  to  all.  This  is  the  eleventh  letter 
which  I  have  written  today,  and  the  longest  yet  to 
come.  May  God  bless  you,  my  dear  wife. 


CHAPTER  VIII. 

FROM    1853    TO    1865. 

In  1853,  Mr.  Hunter  declined  the  first  place 
in  the  Cabinet,  offered  him  by  President 
Pierce,  between  whom  and  himself  a  cordial 
friendship  existed,  and  always  continued. 
Family  reasons  combined  with  those  of  a  pub 
lic  nature  to  determine  him  to  this  resolve, 
and  he  was  firm  in  resisting  the  wishes  of 
many  friends.  One  of  these  wrote  from  Bal 
timore  : 

January  12,  1853. 

I  lamented  to  hear  on  my  arrival  in  Washington 
that  you  had  announced  your  definitive  determina 
tion  not  to  go  into  General  Pierce's  Cabinet,  but, 
although  that  intelligence  seemed  to  diminish  the 
importance  of  the  interview  I  had  desired  with  you, 
I  have  heard  since  my  return  that  you  had  wished 
to  see  me  and  would  be  glad  to  hear  from  me  by 
letter. 

I  entertained  a  great  hope  of  being  able,  if  I  had 
seen  you  before  you  formed  your  final  determina 
tion,  to  offer  some  suggestions  which  might  have 
led  you  to  a  different  conclusion. 

I  did  not  and  scarcely  now  doubt  that  you  would 
be  enabled  to  form  a  Cabinet  generally  satisfactory 
to  the  party  and  the  country  at  large,  and  I  thought 
that  in  the  actual  posture  of  the  affair  your  declining 
to  do  so  would  be  more  perilous  to  yourself  person 
ally  and  politically,  and  more  mischievous  to  the 
107 


IO8  A  MEMOIR  OF 

party,  than  if  you  had  submitted  to  some  disagree 
able  sacrifices  in  constructing  an  Administration. 
It  is,  however,  I  fear,  now  too  late  to  press  or  en 
large  upon  these  topics,  and  I  hope  you  may  yet 
have  it  in  your  power  to  mitigate  much  of  the  mis 
chief  I  had  apprehended. 

On  the  same  subject,  viz.,  his  declining  the 
offered  Cabinet  position,  President  Pierce  wrote 
as  follows : 

ANDOVER,   MASS., 
Saturday  Evening,  January  15,  1853. 
My  Dear  Hunter: 

Your  letter  of  the  nth  inst.  was  forwarded  to  me 
tonight  from  Concord.  The  conclusion  to  which 
your  mind  has  been  led  is  rather  a  matter  of  regret 
than  disappointment.  The  field  of  the  country  is 
entirely  open  to  me,  you  being  the  only  individual 
to  whom  it  has  been  even  suggested  that  I  should 
desire  their  services.  There  is  a  great  deal  of 
weight  in  your  suggestions.  Probity,  admitted  emi 
nent  qualifications,  sound  principles,  unity  in  senti 
ment  and  opinions  are  what  I  must  secure.  I  am 
not  tenacious  with  regard  to  men. 

Although  my  judgment  will  probably  be  formed 
with  regard  to  the  Cabinet  before  I  leave  New  Eng 
land,  it  is  quite  probable  that  I  may  go  to  Wash 
ington  as  early  as  the  middle  of  February.  I  am 
fully  aware  that  I  have  no  right  to  claim  so  much  of 
your  time  and  kindly  consideration,  still  I  know 
your  disinterestedness  and  must  urge  you  to  write 
to  me  freely  upon  all  such  matters  as  you  deem  it 
important  for  me  to  weigh. 


ROBERT  M.  T.    HUNTER  IOO, 

I  have  not  yet  fully  recovered  from  my  bodily 
injuries,  and  my  spirit  is  almost  crushed  by  this 
overwhelming  bereavement,  but  I  expect  to  go  to 
Concord  on  Monday,  and  hope  to  be  able  to  gather 
up  my  energies  for  the  great  responsibilities  before 
me.  Yr.  friend, 

FRANK.  PIERCE. 

Hon.  R.  M.  T.  Hunter,  U.  S.  Senate. 

P.  S. — I  have  not  seen  Mr.  Atherton  since  his 
return,  but  expect  to  see  him  Monday. 

January  31. 
My  Dear  Hunter: 

I  have  been  surprised  to  find  among  my  papers  a 
few  moments  since  the  letter  you  will  receive  here 
with. 

From  some  mistake  it  was  not  sent  to  the  office, 
but  it  will  now  account  at  least  for  an  apparently 
gross  negligence. 

I  think  I  shall  be  able  to  arrange  matters  satis 
factorily  to  myself,  and  in  a  manner  to  command 
the  approbation  of  some  judicious,  disinterested 
friends.  I  have  not  seen  Atherton  for  several  days. 
He  is,  like  myself,  in  deep  affliction  on  account  of 
the  death  of  his  father  and  only  sister. 
In  haste,  Your  friend, 

FRANK.  PIERCE. 
Hon.  R.  M.  T.  Hunter,  U.  S.  Senate. 

Washington,  D.  C. 

Mr.  Hunter  was  on  very  friendly  terms  with 
President  Buchanan,  who  sought  his  counsel 


HO  A  MEMOIR  OF 

on  several  occasions.  We  only  give  one  of 
his  notes  in  attestation  of  this  statement,  as 
they  would  not  be  of  public  interest. 

April  9,  1855. 
My  Dear  Sir: 

If  quite  convenient,  I  should  be  gratified  to  see 
you  today  on  a  matter  of  some  importance.  I 
would  name  12  M.,  but  if  this  hour  be  not  con 
venient,  please  to  appoint  another. 

Your  friend,  JAMES  BUCHANAN. 

Senator  Hunter. 

The  following  letters  were  written  in  1858, 
after  Mr.  Hunter's  oration  at  the  unveiling  of 
Crawford's  equestrian  statue  of  Washington: 

NEW  YORK,  May  17,  1858. 
My  Dear  Sir: 

I  received  your  oration  on  Washington,  which 
I  have  read  with  exceeding  interest.  The  more  his 
career  is  studied  the  more  prominent  will  be  his 
superiority  in  courage,  prudence,  judgment  and 
patriotism.  I  take  leave  to  inclose  for  you  a  docu 
ment  which  must  have  an  interest  for  a  Virginian — 
the  proceedings  of  the  earliest  Legislative  Assembly 
in  the  Western  Hemisphere. 

I  remain,  dear  sir,  very  truly  yours, 

GEO.  BANCROFT. 

Mr.  Hunter's  friend  and  kinsman  by  mar 
riage,  Mr.  Beverly  Tucker,  then  Consul  to 
Liverpool,  wrote  as  follows: 


ROBERT   M.   T.    HUNTER  III 

LIVERPOOL,  March  15,  1858. 

My  Dear  Hunter: 

I  offer  you  my  felicitations  upon  your  unequaled — 
even  by  yourself — oration.  Every  effort  upon  that 
theme  pales  before  it.  Please  send  Jimmy  and  Bev. 
and  Ran.  pamphlet  copies  of  it.  James  Ellis  Tucker, 
Beverly  D.  Tucker,  John  Randolph  Tucker.  Don't 
fail  to  send  your  oration  to  the  above  named. 

BEVERLY  TUCKER. 

LIVERPOOL,  March  18,  1858. 
My  Dear  Sir: 

I  sent  your  speech  to  Mr.  Whitty,  editor  of  the 
Morning  Post,  one  of  the  ablest  journals  in  England. 

I  was  much  surprised  and  gratified  this  morning 
to  find  that  he  had  inserted  two  well-selected  col 
umns  from  it  in  his  paper.  This  is  a  high  compli 
ment,  and,  I  am  told,  entirely  unprecedented.  I  do 
not  know  the  editor  of  the  Post  personally,  but  have 
had  a  little  correspondence  with  him  in  a  friendly 
way  in  reference  to  his  mistaken  attacks  upon  slavery. 

I  inclose  a  copy  of  the  Post  to  you,  and  one  to  the 
Washington  Union  and  Star. 

Yours  truly,  but  in  great  haste, 

BEVERLY  TUCKER. 

Of  his  address  at  the  V.  M.  I.  the  following 
notice  was  written  by  General  Smith  to  Mr. 
Letcher : 


112  A  MEMOIR  OF 

VIRGINIA  MILITARY  INSTITUTE, 

January  8,  1858. 
To  Hon.  John  Letcher: 

My  Dear  Sir — I  send  you  by  today's  mail  all  the 
copies  of  Mr.  Hunter's  address1  which  we  have  at 
disposal. 

Although  we  had  a  very  large  edition  published, 
the  demand  has  been  so  great  for  them  that  we  are 
reduced  to  some  eight  or  ten  copies.  This  fact  is 
the  highest  eulogium  to  an  address  which  for  purity 
of  thought  and  expression,  and  clear  philosophical 
reasoning,  is  unsurpassed  by  any  I  ever  read. 

I  saw  Mrs.  Letcher  on  Sunday.  All  well.  With 
kindest  wishes,  I  am,  very  truly  your  friend, 

FRANCIS  H.  SMITH. 

RICHMOND,  April  2,  1858. 
Hon.  R.  M.  T.  Hunter: 

Dear  Sir — I  am  greatly  obliged  to  you  for  the 
interesting  documents  of  this  and  the  last  session 
that  you  have  been  kind  enough  to  send  me,  and 
beg  that  you  will  bear  me  in  mind  when  you  have 
anything  of  the  sort  for  distribution. 

I  am  also  thankful  for  the  copy  of  your  speech  on 
the  admission  of  Kansas.  I  had  previously  occu 
pied  a  portion  of  the  little  time  I  have  to  spare  for 
politics  in  reading  it.  I  hope  that  you  will  not  sus 
pect  me  of  flattery  when  I  say  that,  in  my  judgment, 
it  leaves  nothing  further  to  be  desired  on  the  part 

iAddress  delivered  before  the  two  literary  socie 
ties  of  the  Virginia  Military  Institute,  July  3,  1857, 
by  Hon.  R.  M.  T.  Hunter,  of  Virginia. 


ROBERT   M.   T.    HUNTER 


of  the  South.  In  its  thorough  analysis  of  the  com 
plex  matters  discussed,  in  force  of  logic  and  in 
candor,  it  stands  ahead  of  anything  I  have  seen  yet. 
I  marvel  that  you  can  preserve  such  judicial  calm 
ness  in  view  of  insolence  which  at  the  distance  of 
130  miles  makes  the  blood  boil  in  the  veins  of  a 
quiet  non-politician  like  myself. 

It  certainly  is  well  for  us  not  to  lose  our  temper, 
since  it  is  the  last  thing  left  for  us  to  lose. 
Very  respectfully  yours, 

GEORGE  W.  RANDOLPH. 

I  have  dwelt  more  in  detail  on  the  incidents 
of  Mr.  Hunter's  life  up  to  the  time  the  war 
cloud  broke  upon  the  South. 

He  had  lived  under  its  shadow,  and  antici 
pated  the  outburst  long  before  others  had 
marked  the  gathering  storm. 

In  a  letter  to  his  sister  Jane,  without  date, 
but  probably  written  some  years  before  the 
crisis,  he  says: 

It  would  be  wrong  to  say  that  there  is  not  a 
species  of  morbid  excitement  which  reaches  even 
me  in  my  present  position.  I  am  far,  too,  from 
concealing  the  fact  that  I  take  a  deep  interest  in 
public  matters  just  now.  We  are  on  the  eve  of  a 
great  crisis  in  public  affairs,  if  we  are  not  already 
in  it.  The  South  is  not  aware  of  its  own  position. 
and  can  only  be  warned  by  degrees.  I  believe  that 
even  twenty  men  in  this  body  who  would  act  as  I 
am  disposed  to  do  could  —  I  will  not  say  save  the 
country,  but  at  least  act  as  a  salutary  check  upon 


114  A  MEMOIR  OF 

the  excesses  of  the  two  great  parties  who  are  dis 
tracting  our  country.  I  believe  that  the  day  is  not 
far  distant  when  my  course  will  stand  justified  by 
absolute  experience. 

While  Mr.  Hunter  was  not  one  of  the  eager 
secessionists  who  would  have  hastened  to 
leave  the  Union  without  parley  or  condition, 
his  hesitation  ended  with  the  withdrawal  of 
Virginia  from  the  Federal  Government,  and 
he  did  not  wish  her  to  linger  a  moment  longer 
than  the  strictest  principle  of  honor  de 
manded. 

Foreseeing,  as  he  did,  the  infinite  miseries 
of  the  struggle  which  he  so  eloquently  por 
trayed  in  his  last  speech  in  the  United  States 
Senate,  he  was  anxious  to  avert  the  crisis  as 
long  as  the  dignity  and  honor  of  his  native 
State  permitted;  but  when  Virginia  seceded, 
he  resigned  his  seat  in  the  Senate  and  threw 
himself  into  the  interests  of  the  Confederacy 
with  all  his  energies  and  abilities.  He  was 
soon  invited  by  President  Davis  to  accept  the 
office  of  Secretary  of  State  of  the  Confederate 
States  in  his  second  Cabinet,  and  filled  this 
position  until  elected  in  1862  to  the  Confeder 
ate  States  Senate,  in  which  body  he  served  un 
til  the  evacuation  of  Richmond  and  the  dis 
persion  of  the  Confederate  Government.  Public 


ROBERT   M.   T.    HUNTER  115 

and  private  troubles  alike  pressed  upon  him 
from  the  beginning  of  the  war. 

As  we  have  already  said,  Mr.  Hunter's  eld 
est  son  and  namesake  came  home  from  the 
University  of  Virginia  in  May,  1861,  in  the 
early  stages  of  the  fatal  disease  which  ended 
his  brief  career  in  November  of  the  same  year, 
and  during  this  illness  his  father's  enforced 
absence  from  home  was  embittered  by  public 
anxieties  and  responsibilities.  It  required  all 
his  natural  fortitude  and  Christian  resignation 
to  bear  the  crushing  blow  which  destroyed  his 
ambitious  hopes  and  wounded  his  affections 
almost  in  the  tenderest  point,  and  it  may  be 
truly  sai'd  that  Mr.  Hunter  was  never  the  same 
after  1861. 

Calamities — public  and  private — pursued  him 
during  the  war,  for  there  was  no  disaster  to  our 
arms  which  he  did  not  feel  as  personal,  and  he 
never  hesitated  to  neglect  his  own  interests  in 
furthering  those  of  his  beloved  State. 

Patriotism  was  with  him  not  merely  an  ex 
traneous  sentiment,  but  part  and  parcel  of  his 
being,  and  almost  his  last  words,  addressed  to 
a  young  friend  and  relative,  were :  "  Don't  for 
get  your  country."  He  was  one  of  the  three 
Confederate  Commissioners  appointed  by  Mr. 


Il6  A   MEMOIR  OF 

Davis  to  treat  with  Messrs.  Lincoln  and  Sew- 
ard  at  the  Fortress  Monroe  Conference,  his 
associates  being  the  Hon.  A.  H.  Stephens,  of 
Georgia,  and  Hon.  John  A.  Campbell,  of  Lou 
isiana,  ex-Associate  Justice  of  the  Supreme 
Court  of  the  United  States.  Mr.  Hunter  was 
one  among  the  prominent  men  summoned  by 
Mr.  Lincoln  to  meet  him  in  Richmond  to  con 
fer  as  to  the  restoration  of  Virginia  to  her  rela 
tions  in  the  Federal  Union,  a  meeting  which 
was  to  have  been  held  in  April,  1865,  but 
which  was  prevented  by  the  untimely  death 
of  Mr.  Lincoln  by  the  hand  of  a  madman. 

The  Hampton  Roads  Conference  has  now 
become  a  matter  of  history,  and  need  not  here 
be  entered  upon,  but  the  projected  meeting 
with  Lincoln  in  Richmond  in  April,  1865,  is 
mentioned  in  the  following  letter  from  Mr. 
Hunter,  lately  republished  by  the  friend  to 
whom  it  was  addressed. 

After  some  account  of  the  Old  Point  Con 
ference,  Mr.  Hunter  says: 

I  never  saw  Mr.  Lincoln  afterwards,  but  he  was 
in  Richmond  soon  after  the  surrender,  and,  Judge 
Campbell  tells  me,  expressed  a  great  anxiety  to  see 
me,  as  he  was  under  the  impression  that  my  name 
would  have  some  weight  with  the  South,  and  that 
he  and  I  together  might  agree  upon  some  proposi 
tion  which  would  bring  the  warring  sections  to 
gether. 


ROBERT  M.  T.    HUNTER 


He  expressed  much  confidence  in  the  honesty  of 
my  intention  and  in  my  influence  with  the  Southern 
people,  but  said  he  could  not  wait  long,  as  he  was 
obliged  to  be  in  Washington  by  a  certain  time. 

Judge  Campbell  told  him  that  it  was  impossible 
for  me  to  reach  Richmond  in  time  to  meet  him,  not 
knowing  that  I  lived  only  fifty  miles  from  that  city. 

Mr.  Lincoln  went  to  Washington  to  meet  his 
death,  and  Judge  Campbell  thinks  that  our  meeting 
might  have  saved  the  South  much  trouble. 

Whether  this  is  the  case  or  not,  I  do  not  know, 
but  I  have  always  regretted  that  circumstances  pre 
vented  our  meeting  at  that  time.  I  do  not  know 
that  these  facts  will  be  of  use  to  you,  and,  although 
not  designed  for  publication,  you  may  be  able  to 
make  some  good  use  of  them  privately. 

Yours  truly  and  respectfully, 

R.  M.  T.  HUNTER. 

In  1864,  Mr.  Hunter  lost  his  beloved 
nephew,  M.  R.  H.  Garnett,  whom  he  trusted 
and  consulted  in  matters  personal  and  polit 
ical,  and  whose  companionship  was  most  con 
genial. 

To  the  day  of  his  death  he  mourned  the  loss 
he  had  sustained  in  this  bereavement.  Mr. 
Garnett  had  married,  in  1860,  Miss  M.  P.  Stev 
ens,  the  daughter  of  Mr.  E.  A.  Stevens,  of  Ho- 
boken,  New  Jersey,  and  between  this  lady  and 
Mr.  Hunter  the  most  cordial  affection  existed. 


Il8  A   MEMOIR  OF 

She  proved  her  relation-like  feeling,  and  en 
deared  herself  to  her  husband's  family,  with 
whom  she  was  identified. 

Mr.  Hunter's  high  character,  unimpeached 
during  his  long  public  career,  commanded  re 
spect  from  all  who  knew  him,  and  he  pos 
sessed  the  confidence  of  some  of  our  most  dis 
tinguished  officers,  as  was  shown  by  their  let 
ters  during  the  war. 

Among  these  military  friends  were  General 
Joseph  E.  Johnston,  whose  abilities  he  rated 
very  highly;  General  Cobb,  of  Georgia;  Gen 
eral  Magruder,  and  many  others. 

For  our  great  commander  his  admiration 
and  respect  were  unbounded,  and  the  follow 
ing  letter  from  General  Lee  shows  his  trust 
and  confidence  in  Mr.  Hunter: 

[CONFIDENTIAL.] 
HEADQUARTERS,  CAMP  FRED., 

February  12,  1863. 
My  Dear  Sir: 

I  am  very  much  obliged  to  you  for  your  letter  of 
the  6th  inst.  and  for  the  interest  you  take  in  this 
army. 

Its  welfare  is  the  constant  subject  of  my  thoughts 
and  causes  me  anxious  days  and  sleepless  nights. 

Since  its  return  to  Culpepper,  in  November,  in 
addition  to  efforts  to  draw  subsistence  from  the  sur 
rounding  counties,  I  have  been  urging  upon  the 


ROBERT   M.   T.    HUNTER  1 19 

Department  the  subject  of  its  future  existence,  and 
have  hoped  that  everything  has  been  done  that  can 
be.  In  my  visits  to  Richmond,  on  two  occasions,  I 
personally  represented  to  the  Secretary  (Mr.  Ran 
dolph  on  the  first  occasion,  and  Mr.  Seddon  on  the 
second)  the  importance  of  this  subject.  Recently  I 
sent  the  Chief  Commissary  and  Quartermaster  to 
Richmond  to  see  personally  to  this  matter.  I  have, 
however,  adopted  your  recommendations,  and  again 
urged  upon  the  Secretary  the  necessity  of  sending 
competent  officers  after  the  meat,  and  offered  to 
send  an  officer  and  men,  if  necessary,  to  assist  in 
its  transportation  across  the  broken  part  of  the 
railroad. 

I  will  be  extremely  obliged  to  you  if  you  will  do 
what  you  can  in  this  matter.  It  will  be  impossible 
to  maintain  our  position  in  front  of  the  enemy,  or 
even  to  keep  our  army  together,  if  it  cannot  be  fed. 
The  salt  meat  is  now  reduced  to  a  fourth  of  a  pound 
per  man  a  day — a  small  allowance  when  there  is 
but  little  else  besides  flour  to  add  to  it. 

Still  we  get  some  fresh  meat  about  every  other 
day — one  and  a  quarter  pounds  per  day  to  each 
man — so  that  half  the  time  the  meat  ration  is  suffi 
cient.  I  have  men  and  cavalry  all  over  western 
counties — Hampshire,  Randolph,  Pendleton,  Tucker, 
etc. — collecting  cattle,  but  they  are  scarce  and  thin 
now  and  ought  to  be  reserved  till  next  summer, 
when  they  will  be  more  wanted.  As  to  wheat,  all 
that  we  can  haul  is  being  gathered  by  our  commis 
saries  and  sent  to  Richmond.  But  forage  is  so 
scarce,  we  have  to  go  such  great  distances  for  it, 


I2O  A   MEMOIR  OF 

and  the  roads  are  now  become  so  bad  that  it  takes 
all  our  transportation  to  haul  provisions  to  the  men 
and  forage  to  the  animals. 

We  are  suffering  as  much  for  the  latter  as  the 
former,  and  the  hard  labor,  exposure  and  scarcity 
of  forage  are  causing  us  to  lose  many  of  our  horses. 
I  have  been  obliged  to  deprive  myself  of  artillery 
and  cavalry  to  a  great  extent  and  send  them  off 
where  they  can  be  subsisted.  In  case  of  a  sudden 
attack  I  do  not  know  what  I  shall  do,  for  the  dis 
tance  they  are  from  me,  added  to  the  impractica 
bility  of  the  roads,  would  render  it  impossible  for 
them  to  reach  me  in  time. 

I  remain  very  truly  yours,        R.  E.  LEE. 

Hon.  R.  M.  T.  Hunter. 

Mr.  Hunter's  private  knowledge  of  the  des 
titute  and  precarious  condition  of  our  army 
depressed  his  spirits,  and  when  rallied  by  those 
who  did  not  share  this  knowledge,  or  possess 
his  means  of  information,  or  his  want  of  hope 
fulness,  he  would  endeavor  to  disguise  his 
forebodings  and  assume  a  cheerfulness  which 
he  was  far  from  feeling. 

He  realized  so  vividly  all  that  was  involved 
in  the  collapse  of  the  Confederacy,  the  com 
plete  ruin — public  and  private — to  all  the  sur 
vivors  of  the  Civil  War;  and  far  beyond  any 
individual  loss  or  failure  was  his  grief  in  wit 
nessing  his  country's  downfall.  With  a  truly 
prophetic  vision  he  saw  the  long  subjugation 
that  must  ensue,  and  the  crushing  out  of  a 


ROBERT  M.  T.    HUNTER  121 

noble  and  independent  spirit,  for  which  no 
restoration  of  material  prosperity  could  com 
pensate.  This  may  seem  exaggerated  lan 
guage,  but  those  who  have  watched  the  prog 
ress  of  events  will  perhaps  admit  that  much 
of  the  characteristic  Southern  nature  has  dis 
appeared,  never  to  return.  While  few  or  none 
regret  the  destruction  of  what  has  been  called 
our  peculiar  institution,  and  while  we  rejoice 
in  the  fact  of  emancipation,  there  are  points 
of  national  character  which  we  cannot  lose 
without  deterioration,  and  which  are  but  in 
differently  replaced  by  what  is  fitly  termed 
"  our  new  departure."  The  spirit  of  Southern 
chivalry,  so  burlesqued  by  parody  and  held  up 
to  ridicule,  so  unfairly  represented  in  the  light 
literature  of  the  day,  may  be  obscured  or  ab 
solutely  destroyed;  yet  the  day  may  dawn 
when  its  loss  may  be  felt,  and  in  time  of  crisis 
or  danger  we  may  turn  in  vain  appeal  from 
our  self-chosen  standards  of  mercantile  and 
material  progress  to  the  memory  of  "  a  ban 
ner  with  a  strange  device." 

Practical  and  mechanical  abilities  are  not  to 
be  underrated,  but  as  the  soul  inspires  and  di 
rects  the  body,  so  high  aims  and  unselfish  ef 
forts  for  the  general  good  form  the  character 
for  real  attainment,  both  moral  and  material. 


CHAPTER  IX. 

AFTER   THE   WAR. 

At  the  close  of  the  war  Mr.  Hunter  returned 
broken  in  finances  to  a  home  desolated  by  mis 
fortunes  of  many  kinds. 

He  had  lost  heavily  in  the  struggle,  for,  be 
sides  the  evils  of  war  common  to  all,  a  special 
raid  on  his  property  had  been  organized  by 
order  of  General  B.  F.  Butler,  and  some  troops 
were  sent  in  gunboats  up  the  Rappahannock 
in  the  summer  of  1863.  His  mill,  from  which 
he  derived  his  chief  means  of  support,  was 
burnt  to  the  ground,  his  horses  and  cattle 
were  taken,  and  ruin  stared  him  in  the  face. 
These  pecuniary  losses  were,  however,  over 
shadowed  by  family  bereavements,  and  in  the 
spring  of  1865  he  lost  his  second  daughter, 
Sarah  S.  Hunter,  a  gifted  girl,  not  yet  nine 
teen,  who,  like  her  brother  Robert,  fell  a  vic 
tim  to  rapid  consumption.  Her  rare  talents 
and  unselfish  nature  had  won  the  love  and 
admiration  of  her  family  and  friends,  and, 
while  still  suffering  from  this  loss,  Mr.  Hun 
ter  was  arrested  in  May,  1865,  and  confined 
for  several  months  in  Fort  Pulaski,  with  the 

123 


ROBERT  M.  T.    HUNTER  123 

Hon.  James  A.  Seddon,  the  last  Confederate 
Secretary  of  War,  and  other  distinguished 
Confederates. 

The  following  letter,  written  in  July,  more 
than  two  months  after  his  capture,  shows  the 
philosophy  and  resignation  with  which  he  ac 
cepted  the  situation: 

FORT  PULASKI,  July  30,  1865. 
My  Dear  Daughter:  i 

I  received  letters  from  your  mother  and  yourself, 
which  were  both  dated  on  the  I7th  of  this  month. 

I  begin  to  receive  letters  more  frequently,  and 
you  may  imagine  how  much  they  gratify  me  when 
they  come. 

You  say  you  are  constantly  imagining  my  employ 
ments  and  picturing  to  yourself  how  I  am  feeling. 
The  life  of  a  captive  is  so  monotonous  that  it  would 
not  be  difficult  to  give  you  its  history  while  I  am 
here.  I  have  much  time  for  reading  and  reflection, 
and  I  hope  I  shall  not  throw  away  the  opportunity. 
Although  the  lessons  of  misfortune  are  often  very 
severe,  still  they  have  their  uses,  and  it  depends 
upon  yourself  whether  you  may  not  find  some  com 
pensation  for  them.  If  they  are  sent  by  God,  there 
is  surely  some  good  use  to  be  made  of  them,  so 
that  you  must  all  keep  up  your  spirits  and  your 
courage.  Indeed,  if  my  friends  are  right  in  the 
encouraging  letters  which  they  send  me,  there  is 
reason  to  hope  that  my  release  is  not  very  distant. 
It  is  true  that  my  own  hopes  have  been  constantly 


124  A  MEMOIR  OF 

disappointed,  but  I  will  not  despond  or  despair.  On 
the  1 7th  Mr.  Seward  wrote  me  that  he  would  soon 
call  the  attention  of  the  President  to  my  case. 

When  he  sees  Governor  Pierpont's  request  for 
my  release  and  examines  the  other  papers  I  think 
he  must  agree  to  my  discharge  on  parole.  Your 
mother  says  that  my  friends  are  very  active,  which 
is  very  gratifying  information,  and  if  they  keep  up 
their  exertions  they  will  be  successful. 

You  say  that  the  boys  are  very  energetic — James 
in  attending  to  my  affairs,  and  the  others  busy  with 
their  studies. 

Your  mother  says  very  little  of  the  farm  and  noth 
ing  of  the  mill.  Perhaps  there  was  nothing  pleasant 
to  say,  but  still  I  would  like  to  hear.  Tell  her  I 
cannot  make  plans  for  her  at  this  distance;  she  will 
have  to  manage  for  herself.  But  I  wish  I  was  at 
home  and  could  reduce  my  affairs  to  order. 

Good-bye,  my  dear  child,  and  give  my  best  love 
to  all.  Tell  the  boys  to  write  to  me,  and  you  must 
all  write  often.  Your  affectionate  father, 

R.  M.  T.  H. 

P.  S. — Mr.  Seddon  sends  warm  regards  to  the 
family.  He  is  as  well  as  usual. 

Two  days  before  the  last  letter  was  written 
Mr.  Hunter's  family  had  sustained  another 
crushing  misfortune. 

His  youngest  son,  Muscoe  R.  G.  Hunter, 
called  after  M.  R.  H.  Garnett,  was  drowned  on 
the  28th  of  July,  1865,  while  bathing  with 
some  other  boys.  This  promising  boy  of  fif 
teen  was  thought  to  resemble  his  father  in  per- 


ROBERT   M.   T.    HUNTER  125 

son  and  disposition,  and  was  especially  be 
loved  by  him,  so  that  the  blow  fell  with  stun 
ning  force.  His  faith  in  Providence  and  nat 
ural  fortitude  never  deserted  him,  and  the 
time  of  his  release  from  imprisonment  was 
now  approaching.  The  efforts  and  interces 
sions  of  friends,  both  Northern  and  Southern, 
had  been  unremitting,  and  in  August,  1865, 
Dr.  Dandridge,  of  Cincinnati,  came  to  Essex 
and  took  his  sister,  Mrs.  Hunter,  to  Washing 
ton,  thinking  the  time  favorable  for  her  per 
sonal  intercession.  In  interviews  with  the 
President  and  Mr.  Seward,  Mrs.  Hunter  ex 
erted  her  influence  and  powers  of  persuasion 
so  effectually  that  she  gained  the  cause  she 
pleaded,  and  Mr.  Hunter  always  attributed  his 
release  to  her.  He  now  returned  home,  and, 
as  Mr.  Micou  writes:  "Devoted  himself  to 
study  and  to  agricultural  pursuits,  seldom  par 
ticipating  in  public  affairs.  His  speech  in 
New  York  City  in  the  Presidential  canvass  of 
1872,  and  an  occasional  appearance  in  his  own 
State,  are  the  only  instances  now  recalled." 
At  the  close  of  the  war,  some  of  Mr.  Hunter's 
friends,  notably  General  Roger  A.  Pryor,  who 
had  himself  been  so  successful  in  adapting  his 
brilliant  faculties  to  a  new  career,  advised  him 


126  A  MEMOIR  OF 

to  remove  to  a  city  and  practice  law,  but  his 
heart  was  inalienably  devoted  to  his  home  and 
State. 

He  was  very  tenacious  of  friendships  and  in 
timacies,  and  in  the  course  of  a  long  and -va 
ried  life  he  rarely  lost  a  friend  by  his  own 
fault.  Two  of  his  friends,  the  late  Hon. 
Lewis  E.  Harvie  and  Colonel  Frank  Rufrm, 
were  highly  valued,  and  no  change  of  party 
or  difference  in  political  opinion  weakened 
their  mutual  regard. 

Among  his  chosen  friends  was  Mr.  L.  Q. 
Washington,  who  always  showed  him  respect 
and  affection,  and  their  long  correspondence 
attests  their  unbroken  attachment  and  esteem 
for  each  other.  In  1874,  Mr.  Hunter  was 
elected  by  the  Legislature  Treasurer  of  Vir 
ginia,  and  discharged  the  duties  of  this  office 
until  January,  1880,  when  he  was  defeated  for 
re-election  in  consequence  of  the  triumph  of 
what  was  then  called  the  Readjuster  party. 
While  living  in  Richmond,  Mr.  Hunter  added 
new  friends  to  his  list,  and  Mrs.  J.  G.  Ca-bell, 
especially,  treated  him  with  the  affectionate 
kindness  of  a  relation.  To  Dr.  Hunter  Mc- 
Guire  he  was  also  indebted  for  much  kindness 
and  attention  both  to  himself  and  family,  and 
he  always  retained  a  grateful  sense  of  these 
benefits. 


ROBERT   M.   T.    HUNTER  127 

Some  of  Mr.  Calhoun's  friends  wrote  to  Mr. 
Hunter  during  his  tenure  of  office  in  Rich 
mond,  urging  him  to  write  a  life  of  the  great 
South  Carolinian;  but,  while  no  work  would 
have  been  more  congenial  to  him  in  the  prime 
of  life  and  health,  his  energies  and  fortunes 
were  alike  unequal  at  this  time  to  what  would 
once  have  been  a  labor  of  love. 

Xo  more  ardent  friend  and  admirer  of  the 
eminent  statesman  ever  lived,  and  in  1843  Mr. 
Hunter  had  published  a  short  political  biogra 
phy  of  Mr.  Calhoun.  He  often  said  how  much 
pleasure  he  would  take  in  writing  a  full  and 
adequate  memoir  of  one  who  had  been  his 
personal  friend,  as  well  as  his  guide  and  coun 
selor  in  politics. 

But  his  mind  was  too  much  occupied  by 
pecuniary  and  domestic  troubles  to  admit  of 
any  sustained  literary  effort,  and  he  reluctant 
ly  declined  a  task  which  he  thought  could  be 
more  worthily  executed  by  another.  An  oc 
casional  article  on  some  public  question,  such 
as  his  letter  to  Hon.  L.  Q.  C.  Lamar,  on  the 
Texas  and  Pacific  Railway,  in  1876,  was  the 
extent  of  his  work  outside  of  his  official  and 
private  duties,  but  the  following  letters  from 
friends  show  that  they  knew  his  interest  in 
them  and  their  affairs  unabated  : 


128  A   MEMOIR  OF 

From  Professor  Holmes: 

UNIVERSITY  OF  VIRGINIA,  March  15,  1875. 
Hon.  R.  M.  T.  Hunter,  Richmond,  Va.: 

Dear  Sir — I  should  have  written  sooner  to  request 
you  to  accept  shelter  in  my  tent  and  such  attention 
as  the  times  permit  on  your  visit  to  the  university 
at  the  semi-centennial,  but  I  waited  for  assurance 
that  I  would  not  interfere  with  the  arrangements 
proposed  by  the  committee  of  the  alumni. 

It  affords  me  great  pleasure  to  be  able  now  to 
extend  to  you  a  cordial  invitation  and  to  state  that 
I  consider  myself  to  have  a  special  claim  to  the 
honor  of  entertaining  you  on  such  an  occasion.  The 
chair  which  I  hold  has  been  occupied  only  by  my 
self;  it  was  established  by  your  patient  urgency — it 
was  distinctly  your  creation.  You  drew  the  large 
lines  of  its  orbit,  within  which  I  have  been  lost  for 
so  many  years.  There  is  something  appropriate  in 
according  me  the  only  opportunity  of  rendering 
suitable  homage  to  the  Constituter  of  the  Chair. 
I  hope  for  an  early  and  favorable  reply,  and  remain 
with  high  respect  and  regard, 

Dear  sir,  your  obedient  servant, 

GEO.  FREDERICK  HOLMES. 

From  his  friend  and  former  classmate  at  the 
University,  Professor  H.  Tutwiler,  he  received 
the  following  letter,  the  interest  of  which  ex 
plains  its  insertion : 

GREENE  SPRING,  ALA.,  May  13,  1875. 
My  Dear  Sir: 

I  received  a  few  days  since  a  letter  from  a  Mr. 
Ingram,  of  London,  asking  me  if  I  could  give  him 


ROBERT   M.   T.    HUNTER 


any  information  about  Edgar  Poe,  particularly  in 
regard  to  his  career  at  the  University  of  Virginia. 

He  says  that  Mr.  Long  gave  him  my  name  and 
address  as  that  of  one  likely  to  be  able  to  assist  him 
in  writing  a  New  Memoir  of  Poe,  a  prospectus  of 
which  I  inclose. 

Mr.  Long  also  mentioned  your  name  as  having 
been  a  student  at  the  same  time,  and  Mr.  Ingram 
begs  me  to  procure  for  him  "any  anecdote  or  recol 
lection,  however  trifling  it  may  seem,  of  his  ways 
and  conduct/'  I  should  be  glad  to  aid  Mr.  Ingram. 
but  I  know  nothing  of  Poe  at  the  university,  except 
that  he  was  a  student  (so  called)  for  a  short  time 
while  I  was  there.  Alibone,  in  his  "Dictionary  of 
Authors,"  has  made  some  glaring  mistakes.  "That 
he  was  adopted  by  a  kind-hearted  merchant  —  Mr. 
Allan,  of  Baltimore;  was  sent  to  the  University  of 
Virginia  in  1822,  where  he  was  equally  distinguished 
as  a  scholar,  an  athlete  and  a  debauchee.  In  the 
first  named  capacity  he  elicited  the  respect  of  the 
tutors;  in  the  second,  the  envy  and  admiration  of 
his  fellow  students;  in  the  third,  he  offended  the 
academical  authorities  and  was  expelled." 

If  you  know  anything  about  Poe,  or  can  refer  me 
to  any  one  now  living  who  knew  him  at  the  univer 
sity,  I  shall  be  glad  to  communicate  the  facts  to  Mr. 
Ingram,  who  seems  to  be  a  very  zealous  and  ardent 
admirer  of  Poe.  In  his  letter  to  me  he  mentions 
the  names  of  Steward  (Stuart?),  a  Dr.  Ambler,  Mr. 
Thos.  Boiling,  and  others,  and  in  conclusion  he 
says,  "I  need  scarcely  remark  that  I  shall  be  only 
too  glad  to  purchase  or  pay  for  anything  relating  to 
my  inquiries." 


I3O  A   MEMOIR  OF 

I  have  corresponded  with  Mr.  Long  very  regu 
larly  ever  since  he  left  the  university.  He  was,  as 
you  know,  in  strong  sympathy  with  the  South  dur 
ing  the  war.  You  have  no  doubt  seen  his  "An 
toninus  "  and  the  noble  tribute  which  he  pays  to 
General  Lee  in  the  preface.  He  sent  a  copy  of  this 
work  to  General  Lee  through  me,  and  in  acknowl 
edging  the  receipt  of  the  General's  letter,  which  was 
also  transmitted  through  me,  he  says,  "If  I  were 
not  detained  here  by  circumstances,  I  would  cross 
the  Atlantic  to  see  the  first  and  noblest  man  of  our 
day."  He  then  adds,  "I  did  not  answer  General 
Lee's  letter  because  I  thought  that  he  is  probably 
troubled  with  many  letters.  If  ever  you  should  have 
occasion  to  write  to  him,  I  beg  you  will  present  to 
him  my  most  respectful  regards  and  a  hope  that  he 
will  leave  some  commentaries,  to  be  placed  on  the 
same  shelf  with  Caesar's";  and  then  adds,  "I  am 
afraid  he  is  too  honest  to  do  this."  Mr.  Long  fin 
ished  last  year  the  last  and  fifth  volume  of  his 
"Decline  of  the  Roman  Republic."  It  is  to  me  the 
most  interesting  history  I  have  ever  read  of  that 
period.  The  last  volume  contains  the  history  of  the 
Civil  Wars  and  the  events  to  Caesar's  death. 

He  says  that  he  took  the  greatest  pains  with  this 
volume  and  is  well  satisfied  with  the  results. 

It  is  a  pity  that  the  book  is  so  costly — about  $7.00 
a  volume.  I  suppose  it  will  not  be  republished  in 
the  United  States  on  account  of  his  severe  stric 
tures  on  the  Federal  Government  for  its  war  against 
the  South.  His  "Antoninus"  was  published  by  Bohn, 
and  so  cheaply  that  they  could  not  republish  it  at  the 
North. 


ROBERT   M.   T.    HUNTER  13! 

You  will  be  glad  to  know  that  Mr.  Gladstone  in 
1873  gave  Mr.  Long  a  pension  of  £100  a  year  on 
the  civil  list.  He  says?it  came  to  him  without  his 
asking  for  it  (which  he  could  not  have  done)  and 
contrary  to  his  expectation. 

I  have  always  followed  with  much  interest  your 
distinguished  career  both  before  and  since  the  war, 
and  read  with  much  pleasure  everything  from  you. 
I  was  interested  in  your  report  on  taxation  and 
should  like  to  see  a  perfect  copy  of  it. 

With  kindest  regards  and  best  wishes, 
I  am,  very  truly  your  friend, 

H.  TUTWILER. 

P.  S. — If  you  ever  see  the  Churchman,  published 
in  Hartford,  you  may  be  interested  to  know  that 
the  contributions  of  J.  S.  T.,  published  last  year 
and  continued  this  year,  are  written  by  one  of  my 
daughters,  who  is  at  Steglitz,  near  Berlin,  and  has 
been  in  Germany  nearly  two  years. 

From  Miss  Randolph: 

SHADWELL  DEPOT,  ALBEMARLE  COUNTY,  VA., 

EDGEHILL,  November  2,  1875, 
Dear  Mr.  Hunter; 

I  am  afraid  from  my  silence  that  you  have  thought 
we  did  not  appreciate  your  beautiful  notice  of  our 
father  as  much  as  we  do.  Mr.  Taylor,  however, 
missed  getting  the  number  of  the  Whig  which  con 
tained  it,  and  we  did  not  see  the  piece  until  my 
nephew  had  some  copies  of  it  struck  off  and  sent  to 
us.  These  we  did  not  get  until  a  few  days  ago. 

I  cannot  express  to  you,  without  seeming  exag 
geration,  our  great  gratification  at  your  eloquent 
tribute  to  our  father's  memory.  The  subject,  the 


132  A   MEMOIR  OF 

writer  and  the  result  are  worthy  of  each  other,  and 
it  is  pleasant  to  us  to  know  that  this  offering  of 
friendship  from  you  to  one  so  dear  to  us  is  a  com 
position  which  of  its  kind  would  do  honor  to  any 
pen.  With  sentiments  of  the  sincerest  respect  and 
affectionate  regard,  I  am,  dear  sir, 
Yours  most  respectfully, 

SARAH  N.  RANDOLPH. 

In  May,  1880,  the  retired  statesman  lost  his 
sister  Jane,  whose  death  left  him  the  last  sur 
vivor  of  the  large  family  with  whom  he  com 
menced  life,  and  in  June,  1881,  he  was  called 
upon  to  suffer  a  final  and  desolating  bereave 
ment. 

His  youngest  and  tenderly  loved  daughter 
Evelyn,  her  mother's  namesake,  and  special 
darling,  died  after  a  slow  decline,  an  irrepara 
ble  loss  to  her  family,  whose  affections  were 
chiefly  centered  in  her.  Lovely  and  beloved, 
she  attracted  all  who  knew  her  by  her  graces 
of  mind  and  person. 

Neither  parent  rallied  from  this  blow,  which 
broke  the  springs  of  life  at  a  period  when 
hope  no  longer  encourages  us  to  cherish  vis 
ions  of  future  pleasure.  In  1885,  Mr.  Cleve 
land  appointed  Mr.  Hunter  Collector  of  the 
Port  of  Tappahannock,  a  position  which  he 
held  at  the  time  of  his  death. 


ROBERT   M.   T.    HUNTER  133 

The  last  years  of  his  life  were  uneventful 
and  devoted  to  home  interests,  especially 
those  relating  to  his  mill,  which  had  been 
burned  again  in  1881. 

Owing  to  Mr.  Hunter's  exhausted  finances, 
he  could  not  have  rebuilt  it  but  for  a  timely 
loan  from  an  unknown  friend.  In  Mr.  Micou's 
words,  when  concluding  the  sketch,  now  al 
most  wholly  incorporated  in  these  pages : 

"  There  have  been  few  men  in  this  country 
whose  public  career  extended  over  a  longer 
period,  or  who  rilled  so  many  exalted  positions 
with  such  conspicuous  ability. 

"  In  private  life  he  was  distinguished  for  his 
simplicity  of  manner,  his  amiability  and  purity 
of  character,  and  for  the  philosophy  and 
equanimity  with  which  he  bore  the  reverses 
of  fortune,  as  he  was  in  public  for  his  fervent 
patriotism,  his  unsurpassed  ability,  and  his 
fidelity  to  duty. 

"  No  citizen  of  this  or  any  other  age  has 
left  a  more  stainless  record,  or  is  more  wor 
thy  of  having  the  memory  of  his  services  and 
virtues  perpetuated  in  enduring  bronze,  and 
his  example  transmitted  as  a  rich  legacy  to 
posterity. 

"  Lee,  the  great  soldier,  at  Lexington, 
teaching  the  youth  of  Virginia,  by  precept  and 


134  A   MEMOIR  OF 

example,  and  Hunter,  the  great  civilian,  su 
perintending  his  mill  in  Essex,  illustrated  by 
their  lives  the  grand  maxim  of  the  former, 
'  Human  fortitude  should  be  equal  to  human 
calamity/  and  present  to  us  a  picture  more 
touching  and  beautiful  of  that  tranquil  old 
age  which  follows  a  life  devoted  to  duty,  than 
that  drawn  by  the  pen  of  Cicero  in  his  famous 
treatise  on  the  subject." 

Three  years  before  his  death,  Mr.  Hunter 
was  desperately  ill  with  erysipelas,  and  his  con 
stitution  never  recovered  from  the  shock.  He 
weakened  visibly,  and  in  the  summer  of  1887 
it  became  evident  that  his  days  were  num 
bered. 

In  May,  1887,  he  received  the  following  let 
ter  from  his  old  friend,  Hon.  Lewis  E.  Har- 
vie,  who  was  evidently  unaware  of  his  condi 
tion,  which  precluded  any  idea  of  his  giving 
an  entertainment,  even  if  his  birthday  had  not 
passed: 

CHULA  DEPOT,  VA.,  May  8,  1887. 
My  Dear  Hunter: 

I  observed  in  the  Richmond  paper  yesterday  that 
you  and  Mrs.  Hunter  propose  to  give  an  entertain 
ment  to  your  friends  on  the  occasion  of  your  78th 
birthday. 

On  the  50th  anniversary  of  my  marriage,  three 
years  ago,  an  entertainment  was  given  to  my  friends. 


ROBERT   M.   T.    HUNTER  135 

These  assemblages  recall  to  my  recollection  the  fact 
that  we  were  at  the  university  together,  and  from 
that  time  to  the  present  we  have  never  had  a  jar 
or  a  jostle. 

We  entered  public  life  together — first,  in  the 
Legislature  of  Virginia;  subsequently  you  were 
elected  to  the  lower  house  of  Congress.  We  were 
bosom  friends,  and  since  then  until  your  retire 
ment  from  public  life  we  have  never  once  differed, 
as  far  as  I  recollect.  I  nearly  succeeded  while  I 
was  in  the  Legislature  in  sending  you  to  the  United 
States  Senate,  although  I  had  but  four  votes  in  the 
State  Senate.  The  joint  order  had  to  be  broken  to 
prevent  it.  I  was  called  to  account  for  it  by  the 
largest  meeting  that  ever  assembled  in  my  county, 
which  I  defied;  and  against  the  strongest  man  in 
the  county  was  returned  by  an  overwhelming  popu 
lar  majority,  although  I  gave  notice  to  every  voter 
of  my  purpose  to  elect  you. 

I  did  elect  you  at  the  next  session  to  the  Senate, 
and  gave  you  one  of  the  noblest  gentlemen  in  the 
State  as  a  colleague.  He  is  dead,  but  you  and  I  are 
still  alive,  with  our  relations  unchanged  and  un 
changeable.  I  am  nearly  blind  and  deaf  and  am 
unable  to  read  at  present.  And,  therefore,  for  food 
for  reflection  I  am  driven  to  a  review  of  the  past. 

Hence  this  letter.  So  far  as  you  and  I  are  con 
cerned,  our  past  is  closed  and  we  have  no  future. 
I  wish  to  inform  you  of  what  you  may  not  be 
apprised,  that  the  office  of  State  Treasurer,  from 
which  you  were  removed,  was  offered  to  me,  with 
an  absolute  certainty  of  election,  and  I  not  only 
peremptorily  refused  it  but  announced  the  fact  in 


136  A   MEMOIR  OF 

the  papers  by  my  own  authority.  I  wish  to  remind 
you  of  this  (if  you  have  forgotten  it)  before  we  die, 
as  evidence  of  my  warm  personal  regard.  It  seems 
to  me  that,  among  other  changes  which  have  taken 
place  amongst  public  men,  personal  friendship  has 
ceased  to  exist,  and  that  love  of  country  has  gone 
to  the  tomb  along  with  it.  With  cordial  esteem  and 
regard  for  Mrs.  Hunter,  I  am  still  your  friend, 

Hon.  R.  M.  T.  Hunter,  Lloyds,  Va. 

LEWIS  E.  HARVIE. 

P.  S. — Poor  Mason!  I  loved  him,  too,  as  a  friend, 
and  Mrs.  Mason  telegraphed  me  instantly  the  news 
of  his  death. 

He  was  a  worthy  descendant  of  George  Mason. 

CONCLUSION. 

For  several  months  before  his  death,  Mr. 
Hunter's  failing  health  had  prevented  any  at 
tention  to  business,  and  he  could  take  very 
little  exercise.  He  was  conscious  of  his  ap 
proaching  end,  and  met  the  last  enemy  with 
the  calmness  and  fortitude  which  had  distin 
guished  his  life. 

He  left  messages  of  love  and  kindness  for 
those  of  his  family  and  friends  who  were  not 
with  him,  and  then  quietly  awaited  the  closing 
scene.  It  came  on  Monday,  July  18,  1887,  and 
he  was  buried  at  Elmwood,  in  the  family  cem 
etery. 


ROBERT   M.   T.    HUNTER  137 

His  beloved  wife  survived  him  for  a  few 
years,  and  in  May,  1893,  was  laid  beside  him. 
Of  her  it  has  been  fitly  said  that  she  made  the 
world  happier  in  passing  through  it,  and  her 
gracious  memory  dwells  in  the  hearts  of  all 
who  knew  her. 


ADDENDA. 

Among  Mr.  Hunter's  published  efforts  af 
ter  the  war  were  his  speech  in  Richmond,  Au 
gust  22,  1873,  m  favor  of  conservative  nom 
inees  for  State  offices;  speech  before  the  South 
ern  Historical  Society  in  Richmond,  Virginia, 
October  27,  1874;  letter  to  the  Editor  of  the 
Whig,  March  11,  1878. 


138 


ROBERT  M.  T.  HUNTER 

AN  ADDRESS  ON  HIS  LIFE 

(Prepared    for    the    Hunter    Monument    Association) 
BY 

COL.  L.  QUINTON  WASHINGTON 


ROBERT   M.   T.    HUNTER  14! 

Gentlemen : 

SOME  six  years  ago,  in  the  town  of  Freder- 
icksburg,  I  had  the  honor  to  preside  over  a 
meeting  composed  of  influential  citizens  of  this 
Commonwealth,  when  the  initial  steps  were 
taken  to  organize  an  association  for  the  pur 
pose  of  removing  the  remains  of  the  Hon.  R. 
M.  T.  Hunter  from  their  place  of  burial  in 
Essex  county,  Va.,  to  the  capital  of  the  State, 
at  Richmond;  and  of  erecting  a  monument  at 
the  tomb ;  and  also  of  arranging  such  other  testi 
monials  of  respect  for  his  eminent  public  char 
acter  and  services  as  might  be  deemed  appro 
priate.  It  is  due  to  the  Hon.  J.  B.  Sener,  of 
Fredericksburg,  to  state  here  that  he  was,  so 
far  as  I  know,  the  first  person  to  suggest  such 
action;  and  he  has,  with  others,  steadily  cher 
ished  and  promoted  the  consummation  of  this 
praiseworthy  purpose.  The  Chair,  by  authority 
of  the  meeting,  appointed  a  committee  whose 
duty  it  was  to  obtain  from  the  General  Assem 
bly  of  Virginia  a  special  charter  of  incorpora 
tion,  for  themselves  and  other  citizens  to  be 
associated  with  them,  to  carry  out  the  design 
of  the  meeting.  That  committee  consisted  of 
the  following  gentlemen: 


142  A   MEMOIR  OF 

Hop.  T.  R.  B.  Wright,  of  Essex ;  St.  George 
R.  Fitzhugh,  Judge  J.  B.  Sener,  Rufus  B.  Mer 
chant,  and  Hon.  J.  H.  Kelly,  of  Fredericks- 
burg;  William  F.  Drinkard,  Joseph  Bryan, 
William  Ryan,  Rev.  Dr.  John  B.  Newton,  Gen 
eral  Archer  Anderson,  Colonel  Frank  G.  Ruffin, 
and  Judge  Waller  R.  Staples,  of  Richmond; 
Ex-Governor  Fitzhugh  Lee,  of  Glasgow ;  Judge 
William  J.  Robertson,  of  Charlottesville ;  Gen 
eral  Eppa  Hunton,  of  Warrenton;  Major 
Holmes  Conrad,  of  Winchester;  Hon.  John 
Goode,  of  Norfolk,  and  Hon.  Taylor  Berry,  of 
Amherst. 

Most  of  these  gentlemen  were  personal 
friends  of  the  deceased  statesman,  but  there 
was  no  purpose  of  limiting  the  committee,  ex 
cept  to  representative  Virginians. 

This  committee  met  at  Richmond  on  Decem 
ber  2,  1891,  and  were  aided  by  the  presence 
and  counsel  of  a  number  of  distinguished  gen 
tlemen,  including  members  of  the  General  As 
sembly  of  Virginia.  General  Joseph  R.  Ander 
son  was  elected  chairman,  and  a  committee  was 
appointed  to  draft  a  charter  of  incorporation. 
The  organization  was  afterwards  perfected  by 
the  selection  of  a  Board  of  Directors,  with  Dr. 
G.  Watson  James  as  secretary,  and  Colonel 
William  H.  Palmer  as  treasurer  of  the  asso 
ciation. 


ROBERT   M.   T.    HUNTER  143 

This  body  was  incorporated  by  the  General 
Assembly  by  act  approved  February  2,  1892, 
and  all  the  powers  then  deemed  necessary  to 
promote  the  object  were  conferred  upon  the 
corporation. 

I  need  not  dwell  upon  the  impoverishment  of 
many  worthy  citizens  of  Virginia,  and  the  other 
causes  which  have  impeded  and  postponed  the 
execution  of  the  objects  for  which  this  associa 
tion  was  formed.  The  question  for  us  today 
is,  Can  these  obstacles  be  removed  and  our  de 
sign  consummated?  It  will  not  fail.  It  must 
not  fail.  We  meet  here  today  in  the  very 
county  in  which  Robert  M.  T.  Hunter  was 
born,  and  where  his  home  was;  in  the  county 
that  he  loved ;  among  the  very  people,  or  their 
children,  whom  he  loved  and  respected,  and 
whose  unfailing  confidence  was  to  him  always 
an  inspiration  and  a  just  source  of  pride;  to 
further  this  tribute  to  the  most  distinguished 
son  of  Essex.  There  can  be  no  honor  paid  to 
his  memory  that  does  not  also  reflect  honor 
upon  this  old  county  on  the  Rappahannock 
and  upon  the  Commonwealth  of  Virginia. 

I  would  not  be  justified  in  obtruding  upon 
your  patience  a  full  and  complete  account  of 
Mr.  Hunter's  life  and  public  services.  That 
duty  devolves  upon  his  biographer,  and  the 


144  A   MEMOIR  OF 

future  historian  who  shall  faithfully  narrate  the 
history  of  the  country  from  the  year  1836  down 
to  the  time  when  the  conquest  of  the  Southern 
States  relegated  so  many  of  their  eminent  sons 
to  poverty  and  private  station.  But  surely  I 
may  be  permitted  in  brief  phrase  to  glance  at 
the  distinguished,  influential  and  useful  part 
borne  by  this  great,  but  modest,  Virginian  dur 
ing  the  critical  era  in  which  his  life  was  cast. 
It  was  often  a  time  that  tried  men's  souls,  and 
only  the  pure  gold  survived  the  crucible. 

Mr.  Hunter  was  born  in  this  little  county  on 
the  2 1st  April,  1809.  It  is  a  country  neigh 
borhood,  without  a  city  or  a  large  town,  sparsely 
settled  in  his  time  and  ours.  I  am  aware,  and 
probably  you  are,  that  there  is  a  modern  school 
of  thought  which  assumes  that  for  an  intel 
lectual  growth  a  man  should  be  born  and  reared 
in  a  city  or  a  closely  settled  neighborhood — a 
hothouse,  so  to  speak,  in  which  his  brain  and 
energies  are  to  be  stimulated  to  the  highest 
degree.  But  history  gives  little  warrant  for 
such  an  assumption.  The  great  men  of  this 
country  certainly  were  nearly  all  of  them  coun 
try  bred.  Washington,  Jefferson,  Madison, 
Monroe,  Calhoun,  Patrick  Henry,  John  Mar 
shall,  George  Mason,  John  Randolph,  Henry 
Clay,  Henry  A.  Wise,  Abel  P.  Upshur,  William 


ROBERT   M.   T.    HUNTER  145 

C.  Rives,  Silas  Wright,  Thomas  H.   Benton, 
Andrew  Jackson,  Francis  P.  Blair,  Abraham 
Lincoln,  William  J.  Bryan,  and  many  more  I 
could  adduce  were  the  product  of  country  life — 
of  plantation  life,  and  almost  without  exception 
had  not  only  the  plantation  manners  in  which 
dignity  and  good  breeding  were  happily  blend 
ed,  but  possessed  also  the  genius  and  force  in 
affairs  which  plantation   life  and  duties  had 
tended  to  develop.     You  do  not  find  the  best 
trees   among  those   which   are   crowded   close 
together.   Individuality,  self-reliance,  decision,, 
thoughtfulness,     study,     gentleness,     charity, 
truth,  purity  of  morals — all  these  noblest  ad 
juncts  to  mental  growth  and  distinction  flourish 
on  the  farm  far  better  than  in  the  heat  and  dust 
and  turmoil  of  the  great  city  with  its  wealthy 
few  and  unfortunate  multitude.     Born  on  the 
plantation,   loving  nature  and  honest  country 
folk,  our  great  statesman  was  through  his  en 
tire  public  career  always  happy  and  eager  to 
return  to  his  home  and  native  air  in  Essex.  He 
did  not  linger  in  Washington,  or  even  Rich 
mond,  longer  than  his  public  functions  abso 
lutely  required. 

So,  if  I  were  called  on  to  specify  the  forma 
tive  influences  of  Mr.  Hunter's  character,  I 
should  certainly  include  country  life,  planta- 


146  A   MEMOIR  OF 

tion  life,  and  influences,  association  and  sym 
pathy  with  the  country  people  of  Virginia,  the 
fireside  and  historical  traditions  of  the  old  Com 
monwealth,  the  study  of  history,  and  especially 
of  Virginia  history,  and  of  the  character  and 
teachings  of  her  great  men.  He  was  proud  of 
them  all  in  his  own  modest,  gentle  way;  and 
to  the  very  last  very  proud  of  the  Common 
wealth  which  had  called  him  so  often  to  her 
service,  and  called  him  because  he  represented 
perfectly  and  fully  the  best  type  of  Virginia 
character  and  principles. 

Mr.  Hunter  was,  indeed,  fortunate  in  those 
surroundings  and  early  associations  which  go 
so  far  to  shape  character  and  to  develop  a  sure 
and  healthful  growth  of  every  faculty.  He  was 
extremely  fortunate  also  in  being  an  alumnus 
of  that  grand  institution  of  learning,  the  Uni 
versity  of  Virginia — the  favorite  child  of  the 
illustrious  Jefferson,  the  first  university  of  this 
country,  and  very  long  the  only  one,  and  the 
first,  as  I  conceive,  to  embody  in  our  land  the 
breadth,  wise  liberality,  thoroughness  of  cul 
ture  and  high  standards  of  scholarship  and 
character,  which  were  needed  to  equip  a  young 
man  for  a  great  professional  or  political  career. 
This  scholastic  training,  the  fruits  of  which 
pervade  all  Mr.  Hunter's  public  addresses,  was 


ROBERT   M.   T.    HUNTER  I4/ 

followed  by  the  study  of  law  at  Winchester 
under  the  invaluable  direction  of  Judge  Henry 
St.  George  Tucker. 

His  public  life  began  when  he  was  25  years 
of  age.  He  was  elected  a  member  of  the  Gen 
eral  Assembly  of  Virginia.  Young  as  he  was, 
we  find  them  discussing  the  more  serious  and 
difficult  questions  of  finance  and  banking.  The 
great  political  questions  on  which  parties  were 
dividing  also  came  before  the  Legislature,  as 
they  had  done  often  in  the  old  days.  Mr. 
Hunter  met  these  issues  upon  a  consistent  the 
ory  of  constitutional  construction  and  policy, 
yet  one  of  perfect  independence  from  extremes 
of  party  bigotry  and  dictation.  He  aimed  only 
to  get  the  truth  and  to  be  right.  At  the  very 
outset  and  in  the  very  flush  and  ardor  of  youth, 
he  displayed  the  moderation  and  equipoise 
which  characterized  his  career  to  the  close. 

He  was  then,  as  always,  an  advocate  of  a 
strict  construction  of  the  Federal  Constitution 
and  of  States'  rights.  He  regarded  these  ideas 
as  the  very  foundation-stone  of  political  liberty 
and  good  government.  The  special  friends  of 
that  creed  first  elected  him  to  Congress  in  the 
year  1837.  He  took  a  part  in  the  debates  of 
the  House.  How  well  he  bore  himself  may  be 


148  A  MEMOIR  OF 

judged  by  the  fact  that  at  the  very  next  Con 
gress  he  was  chosen  Speaker  of  the  House  of 
Representatives.  He  was  then  only  30  years 
of  age.  Among  his  predecessors  in  this  very 
high  office  were  Nathaniel  Macon,  Henry  Clay, 
Langdon  Cheves,  Philip  P.  Barbour,  Andrew 
Stevenson,  John  Bell  and  James  K.  Polk.  Polk 
was  his  immediate  predecessor  as  Speaker.  To 
the  next  Congress  Mr.  Hunter  was  again 
chosen  a  representative.  In  this  body  he  had 
occasion  to  discuss  all  the  great  party  questions 
of  the  day  which  preceded  the  sectional  ques 
tion — the  last  a  mere  cloud  in  the  sky  at  that 
day,  but  destined  soon  to  loom  up  and  obscure 
the  entire  horizon.  Thrown  by  a  new  appor 
tionment  into  a  partially  new  congressional  dis 
trict,  he  was  beaten  as  a  candidate  for  the 
Twenty-eighth  Congress  by  a  small  majority; 
but  two  years  afterwards  he  was  easily  elected 
to  the  twenty-ninth  Congress.  This  was  the 
first  Congress  of  Mr.  Polk,  whom  he  had  helped 
to  elect  to  the  presidency.  In  this  Congress  he 
promoted  the  establishment  of  the  Independent 
Treasury — a  measure  strongly  opposed,  but 
which  vindicated  itself  and  soon  ceased  to  be 
a  party  issue.  He  also  earnestly  supported  the 
celebrated  revenue  tariff  bill  of  1846,  known 
in  after  years  as  the  Walker  tariff ;  and  he  also 


ROBERT   M.   T.    HUNTER  149 

favored  the  warehouse  system.  The  last  meas- 
use  was  largely,  if  not  wholly,  his  work.  Its 
vast  importance  and  place  in  modern  commer 
cial  transactions  is  known  to  every  merchant 
in  the  land ;  but  how  few  of  them  know  and  are 
grateful  to  the  statesman  who  did  most  to  give 
it  a  permanent  place  in  our  fiscal  system!  On 
the  subject  of  the  tariff  Mr.  Hunter  followed 
the  teachings  of  Adam  Smith,  Ricardo,  Mc- 
Culloch,  and  the  great  political  economists  of 
Europe,  whose  works  have  built  up  the  doctrine 
of  free  exchange  of  products,  upheld  in  this 
country  by  Jefferson,  Calhoun,  Silas  Wright, 
and  numbers  of  our  greatest  thinkers  and 
patriots,  and  held  abroad  by  Peel,  Cobden, 
Bright,  Bastiat  and  Gladstone. 

In  the  same  Congress  he  actively  and  most 
wisely  promoted  the  retrocession  of  Alexandria 
to  Virginia — a  policy  dear  to  every  heart  in  the 
Commonwealth,  and  destined,  as  I  hope,  never 
to  be  surrendered  at  the  bidding  of  alien  specu 
lators  and  jobbers.  The  long  and  dangerous 
contention  with  England  over  the  Oregon 
boundary  was  also  settled  at  this  Congress  by 
the  wise  and  patriotic  statesmanship  of  Web 
ster,  Calhoun  and  Benton.  In  this  patriotic 
work  Mr.  Hunter  co-operated.  But  it  required 
no  common  nerve  and  sagacity  for  a  public 


I5O  A   MEMOIR  OF 

man  to  take  then  a  position  which  all  can  now 
see  and  admit  was  the  very  essence  of  wisdom 
and  statecraft.  It  was  a  race  for  empire,  and 
our  country,  with  greatly  inferior  naval  power 
and  no  easy  land  communication  at  that  hour 
across  the  Continent,  has  won  the  race.  We 
sacrificed  a  pawn  to  win  a  queen.  A  war  with 
England  at  that  time  might  have  cost  us  Ore 
gon  and  the  whole  coast. 

By  this  time — 1846 — the  war  with  Mexico 
had  begun,  and  the  slavery  agitation  had 
broken  out  afresh  by  the  claim  of  the  anti- 
slavery  agitators  to  apply  the  Wilmot  proviso 
interdicting  the  carrying  of  slaves  to  any  coun 
try  which  might  be  acquired  from  Mexico  as 
the  result  of  a  successful  war.  Mr.  Hunter 
cherished  the  union  of  the  States,  and  he  loved 
peace  always ;  but,  pacific  as  he  was  by  nature 
and  principle,  he  would  not  consent  to  any 
measure  that  destroyed  the  equality  of  the 
Southern  States  in  the  Federal  Union.  At  that 
very  hour  two-thirds  of  the  soldiers,  imperilling 
their  lives  for  the  country  in  the  Mexican  war, 
were  from  the  South,  and  more  than  half  the 
others  were  Democrats  who  disapproved  of  the 
abolition  crusade.  Perhaps,  however,  I  ought 
to  bear  in  mind  that  ingratitude  is  the  cardinal 
principle  of  modern  politics. 


ROBERT   M.   T.    HUNTER  15! 

In  1846  Mr.  Hunter  was  elected  by  the  Gen 
eral  Assembly  to  the  United  States  Senate.  He 
took  his  seat  in  December,  1847.  As  a  result 
of  the  reputation  he  had  already  acheived  in 
the  other  branch  of  Congress,  he  was  placed 
on  the  Finance  Committee — by  far  the  most 
important  committee  of  the  Senate,  and  the 
one  having  charge  then  not  only  of  all  revenue 
measures,  but  also  of  all  the  appropriations  of 
the  National  Government.  At  the  session  of 
1850-51  Mr.  Hunter  became  the  chairman  of 
the  Finance  Committee.  "  The  revenue  is  the 
State/'  said  a  great  statesman  of  the  Old  World. 

Mr.  Hunter's  tastes  and  studies  fitted  him 
especially  for  all  this  class  of  questions.  To 
recount  his  work  upon  them  would  be  impos 
sible.  He  filled  this  position  up  to  the  spring 
of  1 86 1,  when  he  left  the  Senate.  On  all  the 
questions  and  topics  belonging  to  this  commit 
tee  he  had  the  unbounded  confidence  of  his 
brother  senators  of  every  party  and  section. 
His  integrity,  purity  and  knowledge  of  affairs 
gave  him  an  almost  absolute  veto  on  everything 
corrupt,  base  or  dangerous  in  fiscal  legislation. 
He  was  deemed  a  safe,  conservative  man ;  a 
watch-dog  of  the  Treasury — not  a  mere  bark 
ing  dog,  but  a  faithful  and  incorruptible  senti 
nel.  He  shaped  and  carried  through  the  com- 


IS2  A   MEMOIR  OF 

promise  tariff  bill  of  1857 — a  measure  sup 
ported  not  only  by  the  Democrats,  but  by  many 
prominent  Northern  Republicans;  by  William 
H.  Seward,  Henry  Wilson,  N.  P.  Banks,  Sal 
mon  P.  Chase,  and  others.  They  were  content 
to  follow  a  Virginian  of  the  Virginians.  His 
statement  of  what  any  provision  in  a  bill  he 
had  in  charge  meant  or  effected  was  enough. 
His  candor  and  truth  were  a  power  and  a  pillar 
of  fire.  You  have  today  at  Washington  a  great 
court  to  examine  and  consider  claims  against 
the  United  States  Government.  The  govern 
ment  creditor,  instead  of  vainly  hanging  around 
Congress  and  growing  gray-haired  in  a  hope 
less  quest  for  justice,  has  his  "  day  in  court." 
Search  the  history  of  this  court  and  you  find 
its  sure  prop  and  pillar,  the  life  tenure  of  its 
judges,  is  the  proposition  of  your  man  of  Essex. 
He  helped  to  breathe  into  it  the  breath  of  life 
and  to  organize  it  upon  an  enduring  and  im 
pregnable  basis  of  judicial  impartiality  and  in 
dependence. 

You  hear  much  nowadays  of  "  civil-service 
reform  "  and  of  applying  the  merit  system  to 
all  minor  and  clerical  employments  of  the  Fed 
eral  Government.  Who  was  the  first  man  to 
move  in  this  matter?  I  answer  that  one  of 
the  first  to  agitate  the  subject,  the  one  who 


ROBERT   M.   T.    HUNTER  153 

made  it  a  hcbby  from  year  to  year,  and  who 
finally  formulated  a  wise  and  practical  measure 
to  effect  it,  was  again  your  man  of  Essex — R. 
M.  T.  Hunter.  It  passed  in  his  very  words,  and 
thus  became  the  law  of  the  land.  It  is  a  sound, 
sensible,  moderate  and  constitutional  measure. 
If  it  were  the  law  today,  and  duly  enforced  and 
had  never  been  tampered  with  by  demagogues 
and  ignorant  men,  it  would  secure  efficient  em 
ployees  for  the  government,  protect  their  ten 
ure  better  than  your  present  law,  protect  also 
the  best  interests  of  the  government,  and  it 
would  be  an  admirable  substitute  for  the  pres 
ent  bastard  system  of  cant  and  hypocrisy, 
doubtful  in  its  constitutionality,  and  almost  uni 
versally  regarded  as  having  sunk  into  evasion, 
trickery  and  fraud,  with  features  that  no  sen 
sible  business-man,  no  president  of  a  bank  or 
manager  of  a  business  establishment  ever  acts 
upon  in  private  life.  I  say,  therefore,  that  we 
are  indebted  to  Mr.  Hunter  for  the  only  good 
law  ever  passed  upon  this  subject. 

We  have  had  on  two  continents,  and  especially 
on  this  continent,  a  long  and  heated  controversy 
over  the  coinage  question.  It  has  engaged  the 
intellects  of  the  ablest  men  in  modem  times. 
In  1851,  1852  and  1853,  long  before  parties 
ever  divided  on  this  question,  Mr.  Hunter,  as 


154  A  MEMOIR  OF 

chairman  of  the  Senate  Finance  Committee, 
found  it  in  his  pathway  and  dealt  with  it  ex 
haustively.  Rejecting  the  shallow  Mine-Bureau 
plan  of  Mr.  Secretary  Corwin — an  echo  of  the 
British  system  of  coinage,  not  offensively,  but 
simply  ignoring  it — he  formulated  a  measure 
regulating  the  coinage  which  passed  the  Senate 
unanimously,  without  debate,  precisely  as  he 
wrote  it  and  upon  his  sole  ipse  dixit.  Next, 
but  after  some  delay,  this  identical  measure 
passed  the  House  of  Representatives  and  be 
came  a  law  in  February,  1853 — to  remain  the 
law  of  the  land  without  question  or  cavil  from 
Presidents  Pierce,  Buchanan,  Lincoln,  Johnson 
and  Grant.  Such  was  his  power  in  the  United 
States  Senate  in  a  period  of  fierce  party  strife  on 
a  great  organic  and  economic  question,  oppos 
ing,  as  he  did  then,  the  Secretary's  recom 
mendation.  I  have  heard  or  read  this  coinage 
debate  from  1874,  when  it  began,  till  now,  over 
twenty  years  of  parliamentary  struggle,  and  if 
I  were  called  upon  to  name  a  document  which 
best  expounds  the  true  principles  of  finance  and 
statesmanship  on  this  difficult  subject,  and  in 
a  perfectly  unanswerable  manner,  free  from  ill- 
temper  or  bias  and  full  of  wise  prescience  and 
overwhelming  argument,  I  should  name  the  re 
port  made  by  Robert  M.  T.  Hunter  in  March, 


ROBERT   M.   T.    HUNTER  155 

1852,  to  the  United  States  Senate,  which  ac 
companied  the  bill  proposed  by  him  to  regulate 
the  gold  and  silver  coinage. 

Mr.  Hunter  spoke  also  on  foreign  affairs  as 
such  questions  came  up.  He  was  conservative 
by  nature  and  habit.  He  did  not  love  or  desire 
sectional  controversy,  but  in  that  trying  period 
of  agitation  and  controversy  he  stood  by  the 
institutions,  the  civilization  and  the  constitu 
tional  rights  of  the  South.  He  did  this  with 
out  sectional  or  personal  rancor,  but  with  a 
firmness,  learning,  eloquence  and  argumentative 
power  that  made  him  second  to  none  in  the  de 
bate.  The  very  men  who  voted  against  him  on 
these  sectional  questions  never  impugned  his 
motives  or  questioned  his  ability,  and  on  the 
fiscal  and  administrative  questions  which  were 
especially  confined  to  his  care  they  trusted  him 
far  more  than  they  trusted  each  other.  Can 
you  imagine  a  more  splendid  triumph  of  Vir 
ginia  mind  and  character? 

I  have  preferred  to  speak  not  so  much  of  his 
stand  on  party  or  sectional  questions  as  on 
measures  and  policies  where  he  acted  with  or 
led  men  of  both  parties.  This  sketch  is  but  a 
passing  glance  at  a  long,  laborious  and  brilliant 
career.  Mr.  Calhoun,  Mr.  Clay  and  Mr.  Web 
ster  all  left  the  Senate,  or  died  in  the  Senate, 


156  A   MEMOIR  OF 

about  1851  or  1852.  When  this  grand  trium 
virate  had  departed  there  were  yet  many  strong 
men  who  served  in  that  body  with  Mr.  Hunter 
from  1850  to  1861  who  have  made  a  great  im 
press  upon  our  history.  I  need  hardly  mention 
such  great  names  as  Senators  Mason,  Toombs, 
Jefferson  Davis,  Benjamin,  Stephen  A.  Doug 
las,  Seward,  Sumner,  Chase,  Trumbull,  Bayard, 
Slidell  and  Crittenden.  Yet  I  can  truthfully 
assert  that  of  this  list  of  very  able  men  not  one 
was  superior  in  general,  all-'round  ability  to 
Mr.  Hunter;  not  one  was  his  equal  in  legis 
lative  force  and  influence ;  not  one  was  so  uni 
versally  confided  in  and  trusted.  Since  the  pass 
ing  away  of  Jefferson,  Madison,  Marshall  and 
Monroe  hardly  any  Virginian  has  borne  so  in 
fluential  a  part  in  political  affairs  as  R.  M.  T. 
Hunter,  and  certainly  no  Virginian  has  done 
so  in  the  Federal  Congress,  though  the  Com 
monwealth  has  had  many  sons  who  were  wise 
and  eloquent  in  council.  To  be  pre-eminent,  or 
even  prominent,  in  such  a  galaxy  as  hers,  de 
manded  the  very  highest  qualities  of  mind  and 
character. 

When  the  great  and  regrettable  contest  be 
tween  the  North  and  the  South  arose,  Mr.  Hun 
ter  held  that  the  South  was  simply  standing  on 
her  constitutional  rights.  He  held  that  it  was 


ROBERT   M.  T.    HUNTER  157 

her  right  and  duty  to  resist  aggression.     He 
stated   his  position   in   temperate,  thoughtful, 
conciliatory,  but  firm,  language.    At  no  time  of 
his  life  did  he  for  one  moment  doubt  the  perfect 
justice  and  truth  of  the  Southern  cause.    I  met 
and  conferred  with  him  frequently  during  the 
winter  of  1860-61,  preceding  the  civil  conflict. 
Gladly  would  he  have  welcomed  a  settlement 
between  the  contending  States  on  the  firm  basis 
of  constitutional  rights  for  both  sections,  safety 
for  his  own  people,  malice  and  injury  to  none, 
and  an  enduring  peace  with  honor.    That  was 
not  to  be.    He  left  the  Senate  in  March,  1861, 
following  not  the  suggestions  of  personal  am 
bition  or  his  own  interest,  but  the  hard  and 
rugged  path  of  duty.     Very  soon  afterwards 
the   Commonwealth   of  Virginia   sent   him  as 
one  of  her  representatives  to  the  new  govern 
ment  at  Montgomery.    He  performed  that  mis 
sion.    On  the  2  ist  of  July,  1861,  he  was  called 
by  President  Davis  to  take  the  position  of  Secre 
tary  of  State  for  the  Confederacy,  from  which 
Mr.  Toombs,  of  Georgia,  had  resigned.     He 
filled  that  important  trust  with  eminent  ability 
until  the  new,  or  "  permanent,"  Confederate 
Constitution  and  Government  went  into  opera 
tion  on  the  22d  of  February,  1862. 


158  A   MEMOIR  OF 

Prior  to  that  event  the  Commonwealth  of 
Virginia  elected  Mr.  Hunter,  and  as  I  remem 
ber,  unanimously,  to  the  Confederate  Senate. 
It  was  a  most  critical  period  and  demanded  the 
greatest  ability  and  resource,  both  in  the  execu 
tive  and  legislative  departments  of  the  already 
hard-pressed  Confederacy.  Mr.  Hunter  was 
made  president  pro  tenipore  of  the  Senate.  His 
influence  was  great  and  commanding.  His  ad 
vice,  counsel  and  influence  were  not  only  felt 
and  welcomed  in  all  the  great  measures  of  mili 
tary  defense  and  equipment  then  adopted,  but 
even  in  the  selection  of  officers  for  important 
commands.  He  was  a  steady  friend  of  Presi 
dent  Davis  in  respect  to  all  the  great  measures 
of  defense  and  supply.  He  had  the  friendship 
and  confidence  of  Mr.  Davis  and  his  Cabinet; 
of  James  A.  Seddon,  John  A.  Campbell,  Gra 
ham,  Cobb,  Lamar,  Curry,  Letcher,  Bocock, 
Harvie,  Caperton,  Joe  Johnston  and  Robert  E. 
Lee.  He  was  one  of  the  first  to  discover  and 
appreciate  the  superb  genius  of  Stonewall  Jack 
son.  He  counselled  often  with  Robert  E.  Lee, 
relied  on  his  ripe  judgment,  and  gave  him  his 
fullest  support.  In  all  fiscal  and  economic 
measures  he  naturally  took  the  lead.  Respect 
ing  and  trusting  Secretaries  Memminger  and 
Trenholm,  he,  nevertheless,  originated  all  the 


ROBERT   M.   T.    HUNTER  159 

general  features  of  Confederate  finance.  With  an 
infant  republic,  compelled  by  a  powerful  adver 
sary  to  incur  an  enormous  war  expenditure,  and 
not  able  to  export  its  surplus  products  or  even 
fully  to  raise  them  for  the  markets,  it  is  not 
strange  that  Confederate  money  should  have 
sunk  to  so  low  an  ebb  as  it  finally  did.  The  only 
wonder  is  that  it  did  not  fall  much  earlier  and 
more  rapidly.  We  may  recall  with  instruction 
and  profit  the  fate  of  the  assignats  of  the  French 
Revolutionary  Government  and  of  the  Conti 
nental  money  of  our  first  Confederacy  of  1776. 
Had  the  second  Confederacy  proved  a  military 
success,  as  did  the  first  one,  and  as  the  first 
French  republic  did,  possibly  the  fertile  mind  of 
Hunter  might  have  been  able  to  devise  some 
solution  of  the  financial  problem  based  on  ripe 
experience  and  a  study  of  modern  conditions ; 
but  after  four  years  of  noble  and  fearful  strug 
gle  against  gigantic  odds  our  righteous  cause 
went  down  in  gloom  and  disaster.  All  was  lost 
save  honor.  The  public  careers  of  Hunter, 
Davis,  Lee,  and  many  more,  were  virtually 
closed  at  this  point ;  but  their  names,  the  memo 
ries  of  their  splendid  services,  their  virtues, 
and,  still  more,  their  sacrifices,  will  never  be  for 
gotten  by  the  people  of  the  South  or  by  the  pen 
of  history. 


l6o  A  MEMOIR  OF 

Mr.  Hunter  realized  towards  the  close  of  the 
struggle  the  hopelessness  of  a  protracted  con 
test,  and  he  was  anxious  to  do  something  to 
save  the  South  from  total  subjugation  and  a 
conquest  without  any  terms  of  peace.  The  prob 
lem  proved  an  impracticable  one,  for  reasons 
on  which  I  may  speak  another  time,  but  his  mo 
tives  were  humane,  disinterested  and  pure,  as 
they  always  were.  The  blame  for  failure  be 
longs  to  the  ambitious  men  at  Washington,  who, 
seeing  final  victory  almost  in  their  grasp,  would 
not  spare  either  Southern  misery  or  Northern 
blood  in  their  stern  purpose  to  become  absolute 
masters  of  the  situation.  The  Government  of 
the  Union  being  thus  re-established  by  the 
sword,  Mr.  Hunter  regarded  it  as  his  duty  to 
accept  the  Union  in  good  faith,  and,  as  a  good 
citizen,  to  co-operate  with  patriotic  men  in  every 
section  to  restore  the  reign  of  law  and  order  and 
the  Federal  Constitution.  This  was  the  senti 
ment  of  Virginia  and  the  South.  It  was  deeply 
unfortunate  that  this  sentiment  was  not  at  once 
recognized  and  acted  on  by  the  dominant  party, 
instead  of  adopting,  as  they  did,  the  policy  of 
hate,  military  rule  and  disfranchisement.  Men 
like  Hunter,  Campbell,  Baldwin,  Stephens  and 
Lee  ought  to  have  been  invited  to  public  posi 
tions  to  help  to  restore  the  old  Union,  and  then, 


ROBERT  M.   T.    HUNTER  l6l 

instead  of  a  vulgar  sectional  conquest,  keeping 
the  South  as  a  mere  province  for  long,  weary 
years,  to  be  harried  and  plundered  and  lied 
about,  there  would  have  been  a  genuine  restora 
tion  of  the  Union  and  a  rapid  growth  of  the  old 
national  feeling,  in  which  consists  the  real 
strength  of  the  republic.  Well  did  the  eloquent 
Kossuth  say :  "  Hatred  is  no  good  counsellor." 
No  government  built  on  hate  can  stand,  or 
ought  to  stand. 

In  this  sketch  I  have  omitted  much  and  I 
have  elaborated  nothing.  A  regard  for  your 
time,  and  for  the  superior  knowledge  of  many 
of  those  around  me,  admonishes  me  to  be  as 
brief  as  possible.  I  will  not  close,  however, 
without  averring  my  belief  that  not  even  George 
Washington  himself  (to  whose  character  and 
services  Mr.  Hunter  has  rendered  the  most 
original  and  instructive  tribute  ever  uttered  by 
man)  was  more  pure,  disinterested  and  patri 
otic  than  he  was  in  his  public  action.  Gentle 
ness,  charity  and  truth  were  bound  up  in  his 
very  nature.  Of  malice  he  had  none.  He  was 
not  devoid  of  ambition,  but  he  had  none  of  the 
vulgar  arts  of  self-seeking,  and  the  distinctions 
which  came  to  him  so  often  came  unsought. 
He  was  easy  of  access,  affable  to  the  humblest 


l62  A  MEMOIR  OF 

citizen,  always  open  to  the  suggestion  and  ad 
vice  of  his  friends ;  never  dogmatic  or  disputa 
tious,  never  rash  or  aggressive.  In  his  time  of 
greatest  prosperity  and  power  he  was  modest 
almost  to  diffidence.  When  trial  and  adversity 
came,  as  they  did,  "  not  as  single  spies,  but  in 
battalions,"  he  bo/e  deprivation  and  affliction 
with  a  singular  fortitude.  He  suffered  with 
and  for  the  South.  A  special  expedition  of 
marauders  was  dispatched  by  Butler,  which, 
emulating  the  savagery  of  the  British  during 
the  revolutionary  war  in  Virginia,  destroyed  his 
plantation  in  his  absence. 

After  the  war  closed  he  was  made  a  State 
prisoner,  imprisoned  at  Fort  Pulaski,  subjected 
to  coarse  and  brutal  treatment  such  as  no  South 
ern  gentleman  ever  deals  out  to  a  negro,  and 
when  a  beloved  child  was  being  borne  to  the 
grave,  he,  who  never  harmed  or  wished  to  harm 
a  human  being,  was  denied  the  privilege  of 
dropping  a  tear  on  the  grave  or  offering  comfort 
to  the  bereaved  mother.  He  was  not  sordid. 
He  was  too  old-fashioned  for  that.  His  life  at 
Washington  as  a  senator  of  great  influence  was 
as  simple  and  unostentatious  as  that  of  any 
plain  Virginia  farmer.  With  ample  opportuni 
ties  for  acquiring  wealth  in  public  office,  he 
amassed  nothing,  and  the  results  of  the  war 


ROBERT  M.   T.    HUNTER  163 

left  him  poor  indeed.  He  died  a  poor  man — 
poor  in  this  world's  goods,  but  rich,  immeas 
urably  rich,  in  honor.  I  knew  him  long  and 
closely.  To  know  him  was  to  love  and  venerate 
him.  To  know  him  and  to  have  enjoyed  his 
friendship  and  confidence  till  the  hour  of  his 
death  I  shall  always  count  as  a  privilege,  and  a 
most  precious  remembrance. 

To  the  rear  of  the  present  hall  of  the  House 
of  Representatives,  at  Washington,  there  is  a 
long  gallery  in  which  are  hung  up  the  portraits 
of  all  the  illustrious  men  who  have  been  the 
Speakers  of  the  body.  There  you  see  Henry 
Clay,  Cobb,  Andrew  Stevenson,  Polk,  Kerr, 
Randall,  James  G.  Elaine,  and  the  present  able 
occupant  of  the  chair,  Mr.  Reed.  There,  too, 
you  see  the  youthful,  almost  boyish,  face  of 
Speaker  R.  M.  T.  Hunter,  of  Virginia,  ingenu 
ous,  open,  true,  and  strong.  There  is  no  dark 
shadow  on  that  brow,  no  wrinkle  written  by  sor 
row  and  care,  but  rather  the  light  of  hope  and  of 
a  confident,  brave  soul.  To  me,  as  I  wander 
there  and  involuntarily  turn  my  gaze  upon  it, 
there  is  hardly  anything  more  touching  than  to 
contrast,  as  I  must,  this  portrait  with  the  sad 
dened,  melancholy  face  which  haunts  my  mem 
ory  of  him  who,  burdened  with  private  grief 


164  A  MEMOIR  OF 

and  public  calamity,  had,  like  the  patriot  Grat- 
tan,  survived  the  liberties  of  his  country,  and 
who,  loving  Virginia  as  he  did,  was  called  on  to 
witness  and  mourn  the  unspeakable  shame  of  a 
great  State  that  had  given  Washington  and  Jef 
ferson  to  the  country,  and  by  the  wisdom  and 
patriotism  of  her  sons  had  secured  to  all  the 
colonies  freedom  and  a  government  of  consent, 
subjugated  by  arms,  plundered,  oppressed  and 
scourged  by  the  very  communities  she  had  so 
generously  warmed  into  life.  He  saw  the  sad 
story  of  Poland's  conquest  and  dismemberment, 
so  eloquently  told  by  the  poet  Campbell,  repro 
duced  in  the  New  World,  with  fresh  horrors 
and  the  added  element  of  ingratitude  by  the 
conquerors.  He  saw  his  mother — Virginia — 
with  bleeding  breast,  in  her  hour  of  agony —  , 

"  Find  not  a  generous  friend,  a  pitying  foe, 
Strength  in  her  arms,  nor  mercy  in  her  woe." 

I  have  said  Mr.  Hunter  was  a  conservative. 
No  man  loved  truth  more,  or  was  quicker  to 
discern  abstract  principles ;  but  in  action  for  the 
State  he  belonged  to  the  wise  school  of  Edmund 
Burke.  His  theory  of  public  duty  was  the  at 
tainment  of  the  best  political  results  under  ex 
isting  conditions  and  circumstances.  He  would 
take  the  half  loaf.  His  mind  was  eminently 


ROBERT  M.  T.   HUNTER  l$ 

practical.  He  did  not  seek  to  tear  down  insti 
tutions,  but  to  build  up,  to  preserve  what  was 
good,  to  develop  so  as  to  gain  a  basis  for  na 
tional  growth  and  the  constant  betterment  of 
the  masses.  He  opposed  all  class  legislation. 
He  was  a  friend  to  vested  rights  and  to  prop 
erty  and  compacts.  Peace,  conciliation,  fair 
argument,  a  study  of  the  harmonies  of  our  sys 
tem — these  were  the  weapons  of  his  intellectual 
armory.  The  lessons  of  history  were  impressed 
into  the  very  web  and  woof  of  his  mind.  Had 
he  lived  in  the  days  of  Jefferson,  that  great 
man  would  have  called  on  him  no  less  than  on 
Madison  to  employ  his  fertile  mind  and  ready 
pen  to  expound  those  doctrines  of  liberty  and 
constitutional  freedom  which  have  made  a  great 
school  of  thought,  destined  to  live  as  long  as 
this  republic  shall  survive. 

More  than  any  one  whom  I  have  known  in 
civic  trusts,  Mr.  Hunter  reminds  me  of  the 
distinguished  men  of  that  revolutionary  period 
— men  strong,  learned,  composed,  equal  to  any 
trust ;  who  did  not  derive  honor  from  office,  but 
who  dignified  and  ennobled  public  station.  We 
have  not  had  the  great  privilege  of  looking  on 
the  faces  of  those  who  built  that  wonderful  edi 
fice  of  free,  constitutional  government ;  but  it  is 
something  to  have  known,  as  you  and  I  have 


l66  A  MEMOIR  OF 

done,  one  who  embodied  so  well  in  his  character, 
mind  and  purposes  the  best  traditions  of  the 
heroic  period  of  our  republic,  suggesting,  as  it 
does,  the  fervent,  assured  hope  that  the  admir 
ation  of  public  virtue,  which  so  deeply  animates 
our  people  will  bear  rich  fruit  in  after  years,  and 
continue  to  bring  forth  in  every  crisis  that  may 
come  worthy  men  to  serve  the  State  and  uphold 
the  fame  of  Virginia. 


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